New Delhi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday highlighted the transformative potential of India’s next-generation GST reforms, urging citizens to embrace indigenous products while marking the start of the ‘GST Bachat Utsav’ from the first day of Navratri. “The poor, middle class, neo-middle class, youths, farmers, women, traders, and shopkeepers will benefit from this festival of savings,” he said.
Addressing the nation, Modi said the reforms would simplify taxation, increase ease of doing business, and attract more investors, making every state an equal stakeholder in the country’s growth. He recalled the 2017 GST implementation, which realized the vision of ‘one nation-one tax’, and stressed that the new structure addresses past hardships faced by businesses and consumers.
With effect from September 22, GST on about 375 goods and services will be reduced. Mass consumption items such as ghee, butter, paneer, namkeen, ketchup, coffee, and ice cream, along with aspirational goods like TVs, air conditioners, and washing machines, will become cheaper. The new two-tier GST structure will levy 5 and 18 percent on most items, 40 percent on ultra-luxury goods, while tobacco and related products remain at 28 percent plus cess.
Modi urged citizens to take pride in producing and purchasing swadeshi goods, drawing parallels with India’s independence strengthened by the Swadeshi movement. “Just as Swadeshi empowered India’s freedom, it will now empower India’s prosperity,” he said, describing the GST reforms and tax exemptions as a “double bonanza” for the nation.
