Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday said over 90% of items in the 18% GST slab and 99% of goods in the 12% slab have been shifted to the 5% bracket under the recent tax reforms. She added that moving towards a two-slab system of 5% and 18%, along with reducing tax rates on a majority of items, would positively impact all 140 crore Indians. She was speaking at Tax Reforms for Rising Bharat, an event organised by the Joint Conclave of Trade and Industries Association.

Though Prime Minister Narendra Modi had earlier announced that the reforms would be rolled out before Deepavali, the council decided to implement them earlier to coincide with festivals like Navaratri, when consumption is high, she said. Calling it “an immediate and direct victory for every Indian,” Sitharaman added that the reforms have simplified the system and reduced the tax burden.

The union minister said GST registrations had more than doubled from 65 lakh in 2017 to 1.5 crore now. “This shows it is not the ‘Gabbar Singh Tax’ as described by the opposition leader. Registrations will only increase as it is a simple and uniform tax system across the country,” she said. Gross GST collections, Sitharaman added, had risen from Rs 7.19 lakh crore in 2017 to Rs 22 lakh crore now, with the centre retaining only 23% of the revenue and the rest devolved to the states.