GST 2.0 will deliver faster refunds, relief for middle class, farmers: FM Nirmala Sitharaman

Finance Minister Nirmala SItharaman

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said that while the government does not want multiple slabs under the Goods and Services Tax (GST), India is not yet ready to adopt a single-rate GST regime.

“We didn’t want four GST rates. We’re not yet ready to adopt a one-rate GST. It may happen sometime in the future,” the Finance Minister said, stressing that the government’s immediate priority has been to extend relief to the middle class and farmers in the ongoing rate review.

She added that relief to small businesses was also high on the agenda. “We wanted to give relief to MSMEs also. We’ve tried to correct inverted duty structure in many cases,” she noted.

FM said the new GST reforms clear up the confusion which businesses face, and make compliance easier. "When you go for a registration of new entity into GST...Earlier it was unpredictable...there was no guarantee it will be done in a certain period. Now, within 3 days, the registration will be done."

Looking ahead, Sitharaman underlined the urgency of rapid reforms to achieve the national development goal. “We only have 22 years to achieve the Viksit Bharat goal. We have to do many things, many reforms, rapidly now,” she said.

In the next phase of indirect tax reforms, the Finance Minister announced that GST 2.0 will feature faster refund mechanisms. “In GST 2.0, 90% of refunds will be automatically given,”Nirmala Sitharaman said.

Nirmala Sitharaman also said that while the Prime Minister announced GST reforms in his Independence Day address, the proposals for rate rationalisation had already been forwarded by the Centre to the Group of Ministers beforehand.