New Delhi, Sep 6 (PTI) The Congress on Saturday asked whether the National Anti-profiteering Authority established to monitor whether GST rate cuts are passed on to the consumer gets a fresh lease of life to ensure that only a "favoured few" are not benefitted.

Congress general secretary communications Jairam Ramesh said the National Anti-profiteering Authority (NAA) was established under Section 171 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, to monitor whether GST rate cuts resulted in the reduction of consumer prices.

"On September 30th, 2024, the Modi Government issued a notification virtually abolishing the NAA with effect from April 1, 2025," he said in a post on X.

"Will the NAA now have a fresh lease of life? How will it be ensured that the rate cuts do not benefit only a favoured few," Ramesh asked.

The poser comes in view of the GST Council rationalising GST rates by removing the 12 and 28 per cent tax slabs.

The rate cuts on several items of mass consumption, aimed at helping the common people, will come into force from September 22.

The government has termed the rate cuts as a pre-Diwali bonus to common people. PTI SKC ZMN

Anti-profiteering enforcement: will the authority be restored to ensure GST rate cuts reach consumers broadly? The article questions whether the anti-profiteering enforcement mechanism, established under the central GST framework to ensure tax rate reductions are passed on to consumers, will be restored after a government notification effectively abolishing the body. It highlights that GST rate rationalisation removed certain slabs and introduced rate cuts, and raises concerns that those cuts must not benefit only a favoured few but be transmitted equitably to consumers.