PM Modi pens open letter, says Navaratri brings ‘GST Bachat Utsav’ across country

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Monday, penned an open letter to the people, saying that the start of the nine-day Navaratri festival also brings a ‘GST Bachat Utsav’ or ‘GST Savings Festival’ across the country.

“These reforms will boost savings and directly benefit every section of society, be it farmers, women, youth, poor, middle class, traders or MSMEs. They will encourage greater growth and investments and accelerate the progress of every state and region,” he wrote, further adding that now there will be only two tax slabs – 5 per cent and 18 per cent. The GST reforms begin Monday.

The Prime Minister also said that daily essentials such as food, medicines, soap, toothpaste, etc will now either be tax-free or fall in the 5 per cent tax slab. Goods that were earlier taxed at 12 per cent have almost entirely shifted to 5 per cent, he added.

“Our small industries, shopkeepers, traders, entrepreneurs and MSMEs will also see greater ease of doing business and ease of compliance. Lower taxes, lower prices and simpler rules will mean better sales, less compliance burden and growth of opportunities, especially in the MSME sector,” he further wrote.

At the BJP headquarters, Union Railways, I&B and IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the GST reforms brought by the Modi government were missing during UPA.

“UPA taxed cement at 30 per cent and now it is at 18 per cent. Sanitary pads were taxed by UPA at 13 per cent and now they have zero tax. The tax on coffee has been reduced from 30 per cent to 5 per cent,” he said during the press conference, adding that there are now savings on a host of items.

“Our opposition partners are not happy with these savings and reforms. During their rule, no work was done, let alone reforms,” he added.