New Delhi: This newspaper had first reported last month that amid growing concerns over rising complaints of profiteering from all parts of the country after the implementation of GST, the Centre was planning to set up a national anti-profiteering authority.
“The National Anti-Profiteering Authority is an assurance to the consumers of India. If any consumer feels the benefit of a tax rate cut is not being passed on, then he/she can complain to the authority,” Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said at a press conference after the Cabinet meeting.
NAPA can cancel business licence
The Cabinet’s approval paves the way for the immediate establishment of the authority, which is mandated to ensure that the benefits of GST rate cuts is passed on to consumers.
In another significant step, the Centre did away with restrictions on the export of all kinds of pulses to help farmers get better prices for their produce. The decision comes in the wake of the fact that in 2016-17, pulses production had touched 23 million tonnes.
Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that now there were only 50 items which attracted the highest tax of 28 per cent under the Goods and Services Tax regime, and the rates on many items had been cut to five per cent.
The GST Council had earlier approved the setting up of a five-member National Anti-Profiteering Authority to enable consumers to file complaints in case the tax cuts are not passed on.
A five-member committee, headed by Cabinet Secretary P.K. Sinha and comprising revenue secretary Hasmukh Adhia, CBEC chairman Vanaja Sarna and the chief secretaries of two states, has been entrusted with finalising the chairman and members of the authority.
As per the structure of the anti-profiteering mechanism under the GST regime, complaints of a local nature will be first sent to the state-level “screening committee”, while those at the national level will be marked for the “standing committee”.
The National Anti-Profiteering Authority will have the power to cancel the registration of any entity or business if it fails to pass on to consumers the benefit of lower taxes under the GST regime, but it will probably be the last step against any violator.
On the decision removing all restrictions on the export of all pulses, Mr Prasad said this will ensure farmers have greater choice in marketing their produce.
