Rs 45 lakh, 12% interest: how a GST rate change turned into a courtroom win for Coca-Cola
Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages has secured a Bengaluru court order for Rs 45.2 lakh plus interest from its e-waste vendor after a retrospective GST hike went unpaid for nearly three years.
A retrospective GST rate revision has ended in a courtroom victory for Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages, after a Bengaluru commercial court ordered its e-waste recycling vendor to pay Rs 45.2 lakh in unpaid dues.
The case traces back to a March 2023 agreement between Coca-Cola’s Kodigehalli Gate unit and Hin Green E-Waste Recycling Pvt Ltd, a Uttar Pradesh-based firm engaged to collect, remove and dispose of e-waste from all of Coca-Cola’s offices and facilities nationwide.
Invoices for the 2022-23 financial year were raised at 5% GST, but Coca-Cola later discovered during an annual returns review that the correct rate was 18%, applied retrospectively from 18 July. It issued the recycler a revised scrap-item table along with a credit note and a revised debit note reflecting the change.
The company also asked the recycler, by email, to claim input tax credit before filing its October 2023 returns. The recycler acknowledged the request and said it would share details ‘in due course’, but never followed through. On 20 March 2024, it flatly denied any liability, leaving Rs 45.2 lakh outstanding.
A legal notice sent on 15 July 2025 drew no response, and a subsequent pre-institution mediation attempt failed when the recycler did not appear, ending as a ‘non-starter’. Coca-Cola filed suit in March 2026; the recycler appeared through counsel but did not submit a written statement of defence.
After reviewing the unchallenged record, 85th additional city civil and sessions judge Arjun S Mallur at the Commercial Court ruled in Coca-Cola’s favour, directing the recycler to pay the Rs 45.2 lakh dues with 12% annual interest from the date of the suit until realisation, plus costs.
Wikimedia Commons/by M0tty
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