The process reforms under the next-generation GST framework are expected to stabilise over the next one year, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Thursday
NEW DELHI — The process reforms under the next-generation GST framework are expected to stabilise over the next one year, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Thursday, expressing confidence that the changes will improve ease of doing business while ensuring stable revenue for the Centre and states.
Announcing various decisions taken at the 57th GST Council meeting here, Sitharaman said the tax rate reduction effected last year had not resulted in any loss of revenue, with collections growing steadily and becoming less dependent on festival months.
New lower GST rates, kicked in from September 22, 2025, slashed prices of as many as 375 items, ranging from toothpaste and shampoo to cars and television sets.
Tax rates of 5, 12, 18, and 28 per cent have been clubbed into two rates -- 5 per cent and 18 per cent, resulting in a reduced price of 99 per cent of daily use items.
The next-generation GST, which began with rate reductions, has emerged as a positive, transparent and stable source of revenue for both the Centre and states, she said.
Sitharaman said she expects the process reforms to be equally accepted by states and businesses, which would help stabilise the system further.
The process reforms are scheduled to be implemented from April 1, 2027, and it would take about a year for the new system to fully stabilise, she added.
"It is going to be implemented only from April 1, 2027. It will take a full year for it to stabilise this set of process reforms," Sitharaman said.
Once stabilised, the next-generation GST would provide ease of doing business, ensure revenue for states and the Centre, and give businesses confidence that the tax system facilitates business while providing greater certainty, she pointed out.
Sitharaman described the development as a major achievement of the GST Council and said the evolution of the institution demonstrated the strength of cooperative federalism.
Recalling the challenges faced by the GST Council before 2019, during the COVID-19 pandemic and in the period immediately thereafter, she said the institution had matured significantly, with the Centre and states now working together on difficult and sensitive issues such as revenue.
She said the GST Council today stands out as an example of how Centre-state cooperation can deliver results.
"I am immensely proud, and I'm grateful that the Prime Minister has given me an opportunity to work in such a body, which has grown to be an exemplar," she said.
Sitharaman said the GST Council had mostly addressed the aberrations because of ITC and addressed the duty inversion.
"So, I don't think there are many outstanding issues which are fundamental to ease of doing business or fundamental to anomalies and rates remain. So, yes, you can say GST next generation, 99 per cent issues have been addressed, rate or process," Sitharaman said.
The GST reform Process has been driven from the principle of trust, the minister said.
"Business has to be trusted. Taxpayers have to be trusted. And businesses among themselves, with trust, if they do it, we shouldn't be too intrusive," she added.