GST reforms to inject Rs 2 lakh crore into economy, says Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman
Visakhapatnam (PTI): Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday said the next generation GST reforms will infuse Rs 2 lakh crore into the economy, leaving people with more cash in hand that otherwise would have gone as taxes.
Addressing the Outreach and Interaction Program on Next Gen GST Reforms, she also said, following the tax reforms, 99 per cent of goods under the 12 per cent GST slab have moved to five per cent. The rejig has resulted in 90 per cent items under 28 per cent tax slab slipping into the 18 per cent bracket.
She said several companies, including some FMCG giants, are voluntarily coming forward to give rate cuts and pass on the benefit to consumers even before September 22, the implementation date for the new GST regime.
"With this new gen tax regime, with only two slabs (5 per cent and 18 per cent), Rs 2 lakh crore is injected into the economy. People will have cash in hand," she said.
She said before undertaking the rate rejig, the NDA government kept five filters- reduction of rate for poor and middle class, fulfilling aspirations of middle class, benefiting farmers community, pro-MSME and sectors that are useful for the country in creating jobs and export potential.
The minister highlighted that the GST revenues grew to Rs 22.08 lakh crore in 2025 from Rs 7.19 lakh crore in 2018 (FY 2017-18).
According to Sitharaman, the taxpayer's number grew to 1.51 crore from the earlier 65 lakh.
Sitharaman said the GST Council is a prime example of cooperative federalism, noting it is the only constitutional body created since independence.
Flaying the previous UPA regime, she described the earlier tax structures as “tax terrorism” and said a lot of exercise went into the implementation of GST as part of one nation-one tax.
“The UPA government went for 10 years. You could not come with GST. You could not convince the states about GST… I could have given a harsh political reply. But not today,” she said.
The restricted GST rate slabs will come into effect from September 22. The GST council has reduced rate slabs from four ( 5, 12, 18 and 28) to just two (5 and 18 per cent).
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Single higher education regulator bill tabled in LS; Oppn flags ‘centralisation,' JPC likely
New Delhi: A bill to set up a 13-member body to regulate institutions of higher education was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan introduced the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, which seeks to establish an overarching higher education commission along with three councils for regulation, accreditation, and ensuring academic standards for universities and higher education institutions in India.
Meanwhile, the move drew strong opposition, with members warning that it could weaken institutional autonomy and result in excessive centralisation of higher education in India.
The Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, 2025, earlier known as the Higher Education Council of India (HECI) Bill, has been introduced in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
The proposed legislation seeks to merge three existing regulatory bodies, the University Grants Commission (UGC), the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), into a single unified body called the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan.
At present, the UGC regulates non-technical higher education institutions, the AICTE oversees technical education, and the NCTE governs teacher education in India.
Under the proposed framework, the new commission will function through three separate councils responsible for regulation, accreditation, and the maintenance of academic standards across universities and higher education institutions in the country.
According to the Bill, the present challenges faced by higher educational institutions due to the multiplicity of regulators having non-harmonised regulatory approval protocols will be done away with.
The higher education commission, which will be headed by a chairperson appointed by the President of India, will cover all central universities and colleges under it, institutes of national importance functioning under the administrative purview of the Ministry of Education, including IITs, NITs, IISc, IISERs, IIMs, and IIITs.
At present, IITs and IIMs are not regulated by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
Government to refer bill to JPC; Oppn slams it
The government has expressed its willingness to refer it to a joint committee after several members of the Lok Sabha expressed strong opposition to the Bill, stating that they were not given time to study its provisions.
Responding to the opposition, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said the government intends to refer the Bill to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) for detailed examination.
Congress Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari warned that the Bill could result in “excessive centralisation” of higher education. He argued that the proposed law violates the constitutional division of legislative powers between the Union and the states.
According to him, the Bill goes beyond setting academic standards and intrudes into areas such as administration, affiliation, and the establishment and closure of university campuses. These matters, he said, fall under Entry 25 of the Concurrent List and Entry 32 of the State List, which cover the incorporation and regulation of state universities.
Tewari further stated that the Bill suffers from “excessive delegation of legislative power” to the proposed commission. He pointed out that crucial aspects such as accreditation frameworks, degree-granting powers, penalties, institutional autonomy, and even the supersession of institutions are left to be decided through rules, regulations, and executive directions. He argued that this amounts to a violation of established constitutional principles governing delegated legislation.
Under the Bill, the regulatory council will have the power to impose heavy penalties on higher education institutions for violating provisions of the Act or related rules. Penalties range from ₹10 lakh to ₹75 lakh for repeated violations, while establishing an institution without approval from the commission or the state government could attract a fine of up to ₹2 crore.
Concerns were also raised by members from southern states over the Hindi nomenclature of the Bill. N.K. Premachandran, an MP from the Revolutionary Socialist Party representing Kollam in Kerala, said even the name of the Bill was difficult to pronounce.
He pointed out that under Article 348 of the Constitution, the text of any Bill introduced in Parliament must be in English unless Parliament decides otherwise.
DMK MP T.M. Selvaganapathy also criticised the government for naming laws and schemes only in Hindi. He said the Constitution clearly mandates that the nomenclature of a Bill should be in English so that citizens across the country can understand its intent.
Congress MP S. Jothimani from Tamil Nadu’s Karur constituency described the Bill as another attempt to impose Hindi and termed it “an attack on federalism.”
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