GST reform plan: PM Modi seeks states’ backing on draft proposal, promises double Diwali bonus for people

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said the Centre has circulated the draft of the next-generation Goods and Services Tax (GST) reforms among states and urged their cooperation to implement the proposal before Diwali.He said the reforms in GST would “benefit poor and middle-class people, as well as small and big businesses.” Addressing an event after inaugurating two expressways in New Delhi, Modi said the Centre intends to make the GST law simpler and revise tax rates, PTI reported.The Prime Minister had announced the proposal to reform the GST law in his Independence Day speech on August 15 from the ramparts of Red Fort. “For us, reform means the expansion of good governance,” he said.Emphasising that the government is “continuously focusing on bringing reforms,” Modi added, “In the coming months, we are going to do many big reforms so that the lives of people and businesses become easier.”Calling the move a “next generation reform” in the GST framework, he remarked, “This Diwali, people will get a double bonus from GST reform.” Modi said the Centre has sent the draft proposal of the reform to states.“I hope that all states will cooperate in the initiatives of the central government,” he said, urging them to complete the process quickly so that “the Diwali festival becomes more fabulous.”The objective of the reform, he said, is to make GST simpler and revise rates.