Rate reduction benefits mean just that: Anti-profiteering authority

The authority says reversing transaction using a credit note did not absolve the distributor of consequences resulting from issuing tax invoices wherein anti-profiteering provisions were violated

In what could revive the debate about the manner in which benefits of cuts in the goods and services tax (GST) could be passed on to consumers, the National Anti-Profiteering Authority (NAA) has found a distributor of Hindustan Unilever “guilty” of not passing on the reduction in the rate on 400-ml Vaseline VTM to a buyer.

This was despite the fact that the distributor had issued a credit note passing on the benefits and raised the grammage of the product.

The ruling has set a precedent that distributors or dealers cannot escape their obligation to pass on the benefits of cuts on