Anti-profiteering
Topic: Taxation: Direct and Indirect Taxes, GST and Global Tax Issues · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Anti-profiteering is a GST rule under Section 171 of the CGST Act. When the GST rate is cut, or input tax credit makes a business's costs lower, the business must pass that saving on to buyers as lower prices. It must not keep the saving as extra profit. Complaints went first to the National Anti-profiteering Authority (2017) and then to the Competition Commission of India (from December 2022). New applications have not been accepted since 1 April 2025.
Example
Say a product's GST rate falls from 18% to 5%. A company that keeps the pre-tax price but still charges the old total price is profiteering, because the rate cut should have made the final price lower.
Don't confuse with
- Competition law on unfair pricing: that deals with market power and cartels, not with passing on tax benefits.