New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the recommendations made by the GST Council will further benefit the people and add strength to the tax regime.
Modi also said public participation was at the core of the government's functioning and that all its decisions were "people-friendly and people-centric".
"The recommendations made by the GST Council today will further benefit our citizens and add strength to the GST. These recommendations are in spirit of the continuous feedback we are getting from various stakeholders on GST," he said on Twitter.
The prime minister stressed that the government was working "tirelessly" for the country's economic integration.
In the biggest GST rejig yet, tax rates on over 200 items, ranging from chewing gum to chocolates, to beauty products, wigs and wrist watches, were today cut to provide relief to consumers and businesses amid economic slowdown. The Council met in Assam's Guwahati earlier in the day.
As many as 178 items of daily use were shifted from the top tax bracket of 28 percent to 18 percent, while a uniform 5 per cent tax was prescribed for all restaurants, both air-conditioned and non-AC, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said after the GST Council meeting.
Currently, 12 percent GST on food bill is levied in non-AC restaurants and 18 per cent in the air-conditioned ones. All these got input tax credit, a facility to set off tax paid on inputs with final tax.
The GST, implemented from July 1, has five tax slabs of 0 percent, 5 percent, 12 percent, 18 percent and 28 percent.
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