Nirmala Sitharaman was asked about her biggest achievement. Here's what finance Minister said
Sitharaman said her focus will now shift on the rate cuts, which, while not being motivated by US tariffs, could help offset their impact.
With the introduction of recent GST reforms, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman pulled off one of the most significant overhauls to India's tax regime in recent years. The major tax reforms, made for the first time since 2017, are set to stimulate the economy, especially through the possible adverse effects of the US tariffs.
Sitharaman, in an interview with Hindustan Times, said that the increased consumption may well help the government end the financial year with no impact on revenue due to the rationalisation in GST rates.
The minister also informed that her focus will now shift to ensuring the transmission of the rate cuts, which, while not being motivated by US tariffs, could help offset their impact.
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Calling the GST reforms “pro-people” and “pro-poor”, the finance minister said that the tax restructuring would lead to revenge buying from September 22.
“If the festive season goes as per expectations, if it is good, this financial year itself we will be able to make up…In all likelihood, from September 22, people will go out and buy, just like they did post-COVID. Revenge buying. That’s what industry is telling us,” the minister said.
Speaking on the GST rationalisation, https://blankpaper.htdigital.in/loginshe said, “I enjoyed this phase. It was rigorous. It was intense. It was like taking a tough exam…Whether this benefits people is a different exam — and I will take that too.”
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Sitharaman was asked if she considers GST 2.0 her biggest achievement, to which she replied: “Each issue was a challenge; going through Covid and coming out of it was no less a challenge. But I don’t see this as my win. Unless the people of India respond to the changes being undertaken…and we are seeing them respond, that’s why you are seeing the Indian economy be so robust.”
The finance minister said that the revised GST may “still have several challenges”, but the people are the ones ensuring that India's growth rate remains the fastest.
“We will soon be the third-largest economy in the world. Our fundamentals are absolutely sound,” she added.
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The GST reforms comes months after Sitharaman, in the annual budget in February, introduced a simplified income tax regime, raising the tax bar to ₹12 lakh per annum.
When asked if the GST reforms were linked to elections, especially the assembly polls in Bihar, the union minister dismissed a link that the reforms were tied to the upcoming polls.
"This is for 1.4 billion people; GST affects every person in some way. And there are people in Bihar also," she added.
