HC stays appellate tribunal order directing Tata Play to deposit INR 4.5 bln
This story was originally published at 20:09 IST on 30 April 2026
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NEW DELHI – The Delhi High Court has stayed an order by the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal directing Tata Play Ltd. to deposit INR 4.5 billion with the central and state consumer welfare funds in a profiteering case. The high court will hear the company's appeal on Jul. 28.
The tribunal's order was based on an investigation report by the Director General of Anti-Profiteering, which said Tata Play, a direct-to-home television broadcasting service provider, did not pass on benefits to consumers after the introduction of GST.
A consumer alleged that Tata Play continued to charge the same subscription rates after the introduction of GST and failed to pass on the benefit of reduced tax incidence and input tax credit. The anti-profiteering authority said various taxes were subsumed under GST, resulting in additional input tax credit and a lower effective tax incidence. However, it said Tata Play did not pass on these benefits and quantified the profiteering amount at INR 4.50 billion.
The authority said the tax-inclusive price on an INR 300 subscription would have declined to around INR 354 after GST, from INR 390 under the pre-GST regime.
Tata Play argued that entertainment tax liability had never been passed on to consumers under the pre-GST regime, and therefore, there was no question of recovering it from subscribers. Tata Play said it should not be subject to a penalty when other players are treated differently. End
Reported by Surya Tripathi
Edited by Saji George Titus
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