By definition, or even by law, the phrase Maximum Retail Price (MRP) leaves little room for ambiguity. Under the Standards of Weights and Measures (Enforcement) Rules, 1985, charging more than the MRP is a criminal offence. The MRP Act, 1977, states the consumer should pay exactly the same price as printed on the packaged commodity, no matter where it is sold or served.

Yet, it is common practice for multiplexes, fast food chains and pizza delivery companies to sell products above their MRP.Domino’s Pizza, for example, rakes in 65 per cent of its revenues through home delivery, 50 per cent of which comes from the sale of soft drinks. It retails 600-ml Coca Cola bottles, which are not available at local stores, for Rs 30.

Consider this: in the market, a 2-litre bottle of Coke is available for Rs 50. That translates to Rs 15 for 600 ml, double what Domino’s is charging. However, Dev Amritesh, vice-president of marketing at Domino’s Pizza India, is unmoved: “We don’t charge above the MRP.” And he isn’t wrong, because the MRP printed on a bottle of Coke at Domino’s is indeed Rs 30.

Companies claim they are justified in charging more for the convenience of delivering hot, fresh food and chilled beverage at doorsteps. Should the price printed on the bottle be seen as the legitimate price? After all, how would a customer even know a product’s cost otherwise?At Delhi’s PVR cinema in Saket, a 750-ml bottle of Aquafina costs Rs 20. It works out to Rs 26.67 for a litre, more than 200 per cent above its MRP of Rs 12 at a local store.The catch is insidious. While claiming to charge only the printed price, the companies are printing a higher MRP. Legally, different MRPs for different packages of the same commodity are permitted under excise law.

This leaves the consumer confused and helpless.Sometimes, though, justice is served well. When popular Delhi-based food joint Nirula’s charged Ankit Jain, a student, Rs 35 for a bottle of soft drink, he moved the consumer court and won compensation. The printed price of the product was Rs 15. Most recently, in April 2008, a resident of Patparganj in east Delhi, charged McDonald’s with cheating him by selling him Coke at the price of Rs 30, when it actually costs only Rs 20.

The court reiterated that no retailer can charge its customers above the MRP.Nirula’s changed its policy since the court verdict. “We never charge our customers above the MRP,” says Ajay Khanna, vice-president of operations at Nirula’s. But McDonald’s hasn’t changed. “We have only 500-ml Coke bottles, and they have an MRP of Rs 30,” says a delivery boy at one of the McDonalds outlets in Delhi. “These bottles are especially made for us.”Five-star hotels are exempted from the MRP law. Most up-market restaurants feel that customers are not misled when charged more; they are aware they have to pay more for the ambience and the service. “The extra charge is not forced on them,” says a source from JW Marriott in Mumbai, not wanting to be quoted.One way to resolve the whole MRP issue, would be to,“stop buying drinks from such chains that charge more than the MRP”, says Arvind Iyer, a lawyer based in Mumbai. Still, a long-term solution is not forthcoming.

Source: Businessworld