GST, Income Tax Cuts Have Powered Festive Season Sales, Says PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his address at the NDTV World Summit 2025, hailed decisions on GST rates and Income Tax and said that they bolstered festive season sales, with many companies and business seeing record-breaking sales numbers.

Modi also guaranteed that the GST rate cuts will save India at least Rs 2.5 lakh crore.

The Goods and Services Tax Council, chaired by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, announced a sweeping cut in tax rates in September on a basket of goods and services at its 56th meeting. In a press conference, the council said the GST on a wide range of commonly used products was brought down to 5%, slashed from the earlier 18% and 12% slabs. Apart from this, a special 40% tab was kept for sin goods such as cigarettes and sweetened aerated drinks.

PM Modi reflected back at the past 11 years of India's journey and said that it has, "extinguished every doubt, conquered every challenge."

In his speech, the Prime Minister covered every nook and corner of India's splendid growth story. Recalling the corona virus pandemic he said, "Soon after Covid-19, headlines were dominated by conflicts and wars. But India kept moving forward. In the last three years, India's average growth has been 7.8%. Just two days ago, the merchandise exports data came out, and India's exports have grown by 7%".

Besides this, Modi also talked about the leaps India has made in digital payments and stated, "India has proved everyone wrong. Today, world's 50% digital transaction happens in India. India's UPI dominates global digital payments. India performed better than every estimate. This is India's mood today," PM Modi said.

The Prime Minister highlighted how India has transitioned from "fragile five to top five" economies, owing to the reforms undertaken by the government over the past decade and also spoke about S&P's credit rating upgrade and underlined how this was the first time after 17 years that it took place, attracting a lot of investments.

India has become a host for investments, especially in the green energy and semi-conductor sectors, according to Modi.