Competition watchdog CCI to handle GST profiteering complaints from next month

National antitrust watchdog Competition Commission of India (CCI) will from December 1 handle all complaints related to profiteering under goods and services tax (GST) in place of National Anti-Profiteering Authority (NAA), an official notification said on Thursday.

NAA was set up in November 2017 to check unfair profiteering by registered suppliers under the GST law to safeguard consumers. Initially, it was set up for two years till 2019. Then, its tenure was extended by two years till November 2021 and again by another year. The tenure of NAA ends this month.

The GST Council, while extending NAA's tenure till November 30, 2022, in its 45th meeting in September last year, had also decided to shift its work to CCI after that. The CCI will create a separate wing to handle complaints relating to GST profiteering.

Under the GST law, a three-tier structure was set up for investigation and adjudication of profiteering complaints. A state-level screening committee looked into the complaints and if satisfied forwarded them to Director General Anti-Profiteering (DGAP) for investigation. DGAP then submitted the investigation report to NAA, which passed an order after hearing both the parties.

Any entity found indulging in profiteering has to return the profiteered amount, along with 18% interest, to the consumer. If all the consumers cannot be identified, then the amount is transferred to the consumer welfare fund.

"The central government, on the recommendations of the GST Council, hereby empowers the CCI to examine whether input tax credits availed by any registered person or the reduction in the tax rate have actually resulted in a commensurate reduction in the price of the goods or services or both supplied by him," the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) said in a notification dated November 23.

Deloitte India partner MS Mani said the industry would expect some guidelines to aid in the determination of profiteering or otherwise. "Ideally, market forces should determine pricing and recourse to CCI should be made only in very exceptional cases," he added.