The anti-profiteering body held caught off the US pharmaceutical company Abbott Healthcare because the benefits of GST was not given by them to the customers post-GST which was rolled out on July 2017 even after the tax rate reduction in November 2017.
Instead of reducing the rate, the company increased the rate of a cream post-GST due to which it has been charged with a penalty of INR 96.59 lakh for anti-profiteering from the GST said the NAA (National Anti-profiteering Authority) on 5 March 2019 in order.
However, the order is given on only one product but the NAA ordered that further investigation will be done on all the product which are sold by Abbott.
NAA said in an order “DGAP (Director General of Anti-Profiteering) is directed to further investigate the quantum of profiteering on all the products including the present product which respondent (Abbott) is supplying”.
An Abbott speaker said while answering a query that “This situation is a difference of interpretation of the GST rules and we are looking at next steps”.
Tax experts stated that the orders are very confusing for the pharmacy sector. It was earlier reported on 22 June 2018 that the NAA has started to look for the drug companies who are not following the steps of the GST by giving the benefits of lower taxes to the customers. They also said that the companies and pharmacies will come under the wrap.
