Gripped by jitters, city eateries down shutters early

 Late-night diners were caught unawares on Friday as popular restaurants closed early.
Usually open beyond midnight, the restaurants wound up by 11 pm to avoid Goods and Services Tax (GST) implementation glitches.

Restaurants on M G Road, Church Street, St Marks’ Road, Double Road, Malleswaram and Jayanagar are not fully ready to raise invoices under the new GST regime, ushered in at the stroke of midnight.

Indian Kitchen, Cafe Coffee Day Lounge, Mainland China and The White Room are usually open well past midnight on all days. They downed shutters at 11 pm. Popular southern-cuisine restaurants such as Maiyas, MTR and New Krishna Bhavan also closed early.

“We have to file Friday’s returns under the existing service tax norms, but post-midnight, if we keep open, we will have to file returns under the GST regime,” the manager of a swanky restaurant on MG Road told DH.

He said the restaurant’s systems were not equipped to raise revised bills at midnight. “So we preferred to close early,” he said.