By Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI: Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said at a press conference in New Delhi today that the historic decision taken in the GST Council meeting will fulfill the aspirations of the common people and increase financial confidence in the society.
Union Minister Shri Pradhan said that the decision taken in the 56th GST Council meeting yesterday on the 5% and 18% slab structure is commendable and welcome. This decision will make daily consumable items cheaper. Starting from school going students, the poor and middle class citizens of the country, farmers, MSMEs, middle class, women and youth will benefit. This step is the Dussehra and Diwali gift of the Modi government to the people of Odisha and other states. This decision will be a big boost to the economy in India. Circular economy will come to the market. The purchasing power of the people will increase, which will increase production and increase the use of raw materials. Reforms in the process and simplification in GST rates will accelerate key economic sectors and will start a new era of economic growth and ease of living. Shri Pradhan thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for the next generation GST reforms.
On the benefit of Odisha from this decision, Shri Pradhan said that the GST slab on kendu leaves has been reduced from 18% to 5%. Kendu leaves are the economic backbone of lakhs of kendu leaf growers and traders in Odisha. More than 15 lakh people associated with the kendu leaf industry will benefit from this decision. GST on yarn has been reduced from 12% to 5% and this will benefit the weavers of Odisha, especially in the western part of the state. GST on coal has been increased to 18%. Odisha is a coal producing state. In this financial year, a target has been set to produce up to 250 million metric tons of coal through joint efforts of Central Public Sector Enterprises like MCL and private companies. Earlier, Odisha’s revenue was getting 2.5% of revenue, but now it will get 9% of revenue. Odisha will benefit greatly from this.
Odisha being an agricultural state, the proposed step to reduce GST on various agricultural equipment such as sprayers, harvesting equipment, tractors and their tyres and raw materials used for fertilizers will reduce the financial burden on farmers and reduce the cost of agricultural production. Shri Pradhan further said that a decision has been taken to simplify and simplify the registration process for small and start-up businesses. The decision not to levy tax on health and life insurance related services is a welcome one. Medicines, dairy products and many other items used by the common man, including food, have been exempted from GST. This reform will bring about a major change in the education sector of the country. While the formal education sector (schools and universities) were earlier exempted from GST, now various education related services, books and learning aids etc. have been exempted from GST.
The Union Education Minister said that Prime Minister Modi has continuously improved the Indian economy by introducing reforms for the last 11 years. Earlier, there was a problem with VAT on products and many taxes had to be paid on products, there was no uniformity in tax rates. GST reforms have simplified tax return filing, tax GST registration, tax filing. Recently, a survey was conducted by Deloitte, in which 85% of large and micro, small and medium businessmen expressed satisfaction with the implementation of GST. In 2017, 67 lakh businessmen were included in GST. This number will increase to 1.5 crore by 2025, due to which our economy is being formalized and structural reforms are being carried out. This will boost India’s growth, control inflation and accelerate the ease of living. Earlier, GST collection was 11 lakh crores in 2020, but it has increased to 22 lakh crores in 2024-25. The doubling to 22 lakh crores in just 4 years is a reflection of the Modi government’s vision. The decision taken in the GST Council meeting yesterday will increase GST collection in the country. Shri Pradhan expressed his gratitude to the Prime Minister, the Union Finance Minister and the GST Council.
