GST Council meet on Friday: Profiteering cases likely to go to CCI

The Council will also discuss bringing petroleum products within the GST ambit

A meeting of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council on Friday will decide the fate of the National Anti-profiteering Authority (NAA), whose tenure ends in November. Besides, the Council will take a call on extending the concessional rates for Covid-19-related drugs, including remdesivir, by another three months.

The Council, chaired by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, will decide whether the term of the NAA will get over after November 30, and instead the Competition Commission of India (CCI) or any other authority could be given its mandate.

The Council, which will meet physically for the first time in about 20 months, in Lucknow, will also discuss bringing petroleum products within the GST ambit, apart from deliberating on GST rate revisions and clarifications on certain items recommended by the fitment panel.

Also, with respect to the extension of the compensation period for the GST shortfall, a detailed presentation will be made, listing the scenarios post June 2022 and options that can be considered to make up for the shortfall.

The Centre will also present its view that GST revenues would do better than expected this year and a compensation cess of Rs 1 trillion will be released to states. Besides, the back-to-back assistance of Rs 1.59 trillion borrowed from the market would more than cover the gap and would partially compensate for the arrears of last year.

The NAA was set up for a two-year period up to November 2019 to ensure that any reduction in rate of tax on any supply of goods or services or the benefit of input tax credit shall be passed on to the recipient by way of commensurate reduction in prices.

ON THE TABLE

• Extending concessional rates on Covid drugs, including Amphotericin B, Tocilizumab, and Remdesivir till December 31
• Reducing GST rates from 12% to 5% on seven drugs such as Itolizumab, 2-Deoxy-D-Glucose, and Favipiravir
• Cutting GST rates on biodiesel supplied to oil marketing companies for blending with diesel, from 12% to 5%