Consumer Affairs Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday said restaurants will not suffer losses if the service charge is withdrawn. His statement came a day after the government directed restaurants to not levy "illegal" service charges.

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Reiterating that restaurants have been imposing different levels of service charges, Goyal said consumers must have a choice on whether they want to pay them or not.

"There are no price controls on restaurants. We have not stopped restaurants from increasing their prices. It will be wrong for restaurants to say that they will suffer losses if the service charge is withdrawn," Goyal said.

"We cannot mislead people by charging for service. It has to be the consumer's choice," he said.

The government recently took cognisance of complaints regarding restaurants mandatorily levying service charge. It said on Thursday the charge in question is “illegal” and it does not have any “legal sanctity." Thus, implying that restaurants should not be collecting a service charge.

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On wheat export

Around three weeks after a ban was imposed on wheat exports, Piyush Goyal said prices of wheat have come down by Rs 5/kg.

"The wheat export ban was important to make sure inflation doesn't raise its head and (to make sure) for our security. Farmers had already sold their produce before the ban. Only 6 lakh tonnes came for procurement after the ban," he said.

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He also urged countries that import wheat from India to uses it for domestic consumption. "We insist that any country which asks us for wheat only uses it for domestic consumption and not for further exports," he said.

He also mentioned preliminary reports that "revealed that ITC Limited's wheat exports to Turkey were rejected".

"Netherlands had purchased this consignment from ITC and was supplying to Turkey. No one has any doubts about ITCs quality controls. We are sure the India's wheat is of the highest quality and ITC's quality standards are strong. ITC is also looking into rejection of this consignment by Turkey. Turkey has never traded wheat with India," Goyal said.

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(Edited by : Akriti Anand)