Cheaper automobiles

Buying a Bajaj has certainly become cheaper with the company announcing a Rs 4500 discount on its Pulsar range of motorcycles. The company said that it is merely passing on GST benefits to its customers. Bajaj currently seems to be the only motorcycle brand offering benefits for registration made between June 14 - July 1, although Royal Enfield suggested in a release that it will offer benefits starting from June 17.

This pre-GST period is also offering great discounts on four-wheeler purchases. The discounts on buying a car can be anywhere in the range of Rs 6000 to nearly Rs 7 lakhs (Audi A6).

The top-end Audi A6 that retails at Rs 57.04 lakhs carries a discount of Rs 7 lakh currently. Audi, which was among the earliest to offer pre-GST discounts has lined up cash discounts across A3, A4, A6 and the Q3 models. The Q3 carries a discount of Rs 3 lakh.

Audi's rival Mercedes Benz is also offering discounts up to Rs 7.5 lakh while Jaguar Land Rover is offering discounts up to Rs 4 lakh.

BMW has not announced any discounts yet but are providing loans at 7.90%, and also offering complimentary service and maintenance of three years, free insurance for the first year, and assured buyback for up to four years.

Isuzu Motors India, for its part, is offering discounts of up to Rs 1.5 lakh.

Full Coverage: All the latest news, views and FAQs on GST

While Maruti is yet to open a pre-GST offer, its competitor, Tata Motors is offering a discount of Rs 15000 on the Hexa.

Mahindra's discounts are as follows - Rs 27000 on the Scorpio, Rs 61000 on the TUV300, Rs 72000 on the KUV100 and Rs 90000 on the XUV500

Hyundai, currently is offering the best discount - a cool Rs 250000 discount for registrations within this period for its top-end Santa FE, which comes at a price of Rs 34.86 lakh (ex-showroom Mumbai). It is also offering a Rs 25000 discount on Elite i20.

Volkswagen is promising benefits up to Rs 76000 on the Polo variants and Rs 100000 the Vento variants booked till June 20 and billed completely before June 30. The German car major is also bundling free insurance, road-side assistance and extended warranty for three years to further sweeten the deal.

Nissan, meanwhile, is offering discountsup to Rs 80000 on its SUV, Terrano, and almost Rs 25000 on its compact car Micra.

Ford's discount offers include Rs 20,000-30000 on its SUV, EcoSport, and Rs 10000-25000 on the Figo and the Aspire variants.

Discounts on white goods

There are discounts galore on white goods such as Air conditioners, washing machines and microwave ovens.

A few multi-brand retail stores are even throwing up nearly 50% discounts to clear stocks.

Electronics major Samsung has pitched in with a 5% discount on electronics, considering prices of electronic items are set to rise by 5%.

Most of these products have been taxed at 23%, and with GST there is a greater probability that they will be taxed at 28%.

According to industry analysts, retailers are wary that there could be a tax component of 5% on pending stocks, and hence the rush to clear stocks before GST implementation date.

Paytm, the online retailer, gave away Bluetooth speakers, footwear, and other accessories at a 50% discount and an additional cashback of 25%.

Sops on apparel

Expect deals such as 40-50% off on branded apparels.

Sportswear brand Puma has offered additional 10% off on its flat 40% discount.

Allen Solly is giving away a buy-one get-one free program, while Levi's is promoting its 'Buy 2 Get 2' programme.

Brands such as Flying Machine and Pepe Jeans too suggested that they are running a 50% off and buy-2 get-3 free offer.

With barely two weeks for the GST's July 1 implementation deadline, manufacturers, distributors and retailers have indeed braced up for a pre-GST clearance sale. Like we mentioned earlier, their greatest fear is the taxation on stocked inventories. So, as customers you can certainly expect more such offers until July 1.