New Delhi, Oct. 8 -- The average GST rate has fallen to 10.84 per cent after the goods and services tax rates were rationalised in September last year from 11.4 per cent in 2023, sources said. At the time of the launch of GST on July 1, 2017, the revenue neutral rate (RNR) was calculated at 15.8 per cent.
In September, the GST Council rationalised the indirect tax regime by collapsing the four-slab GST structure of 5, 12, 18, and 28 per cent into a two-slab structure of 5 and 18 per cent. Also, there was a 40 per cent rate for sin and luxury goods.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said despite the rate cuts announced in September, GST revenues have grown.
In the first six months of FY27, GST collections grew 11.6 per cent to Rs 12.46 lakh crore. Sitharaman also said the GST Council did not discuss GST to be levied on Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) UPI transactions above Rs 2,000.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.