DG Anti Profiteering Vs Tata Play Limited (GSTAT)
The proceeding before the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT) arose under Section 171 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, read with Rule 133 of the CGST Rules. The matter concerned the re-examination of the investigation report of the Directorate General of Anti-Profiteering (DGAP), which had earlier been upheld by the National Anti-Profiteering Authority (NAA). The Delhi High Court, in a writ petition, set aside the NAA order and remanded the matter to the GSTAT for reconsideration of the factual aspects.
The respondent company provides Direct-to-Home (DTH) television broadcasting services. The investigation originated from a consumer complaint alleging that the respondent charged the same subscription price in both pre-GST and post-GST periods and did not pass on the benefit of additional input tax credit (ITC) available under GST. The Standing Committee on Anti-Profiteering referred the matter to the DGAP for investigation.
The DGAP conducted an investigation comparing the effective tax incidence and ITC availability before and after the introduction of GST. In the pre-GST period, the respondent paid service tax, VAT, entertainment tax, and other taxes without seamless credit availability. After the introduction of GST on 01.07.2017, these taxes were subsumed and full input tax credit became available. The DGAP found that the percentage of ITC to turnover increased from 10.86% in the pre-GST period (01.04.2016 to 30.06.2017) to 15.05% in the post-GST period (01.07.2017 to 31.01.2019), resulting in an additional ITC benefit of 4.19%. According to the DGAP, the respondent did not reduce prices commensurately and had therefore profiteered an amount of ₹450.18 crore.
