In an interview to a Delhi-based news magazine, PM Narendra Modi said GST is bringing a massive change in the Indian economy.

PM Modi said 48 lakh new enterprises were registered, 350 crore invoices processed and 11 crore returns filed in just one year of GST implementation.

As the GST tax regime completes one year, Prime Minister Modi while speaking to Swarajya Magzine in an exclusive interview, hailed the GST or Goods and Services Tax as a transparent system which has ended Inspector Raj.

”Can we have milk and Mercedes at the same rate? So, when our friends in Congress say that they will have just one GST rate, they are effectively saying they will tax food items and commodities, which are currently at zero or 5 per cent, at 18 per cent,” he said.

The Prime Minister on being asked that the GST is a complex system, replied that 48 lakh new enterprises have been added in the past one year and that 350 crore invoices have already been processed.

”Around 350 crore invoices were processed and 11 crore returns were filed. Would we be looking at such numbers, if GST were indeed very complex? Check-posts across the country have been abolished and there are no more queues at state borders. Not only are truck drivers saving precious time but also the logistics sector is getting a boost,” the PM said.

PM Modi in the interview said that taxes on 400 items have come down and 150 groups of items are not taxed at all, that is are exempted.

”Talking about rates, earlier many taxes were hidden. Now, what you see is what you pay. Be it rice, wheat, sugar, spices, etc., total tax levied has been reduced in most cases. Large number of items of daily usage are either exempted or in 5 per cent slab. Some 95 per cent items fall in/below the 18 per cent slab,” he said.

PM Modi hailed the GST as the best example of cooperative federalism and said that everything has been decided by consensus where the Modi government succeeded and previous governments failed.