GST reforms a big booster to India’s economic growth, says Mukesh Ambani; here’s when Reliance Retail will pass on benefits to customers

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh D Ambani on Thursday hailed the Centre's Goods and Services Tax (GST) reforms as a "big booster to consumption-driven growth".

Ambani congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi for completing his promise of a historic "Diwali gift to the people of India", saying that the GST rationalisation will benefit customers with lower prices.

"The GST rationalisation is a progressive step towards making products and services more affordable for consumers, easing operational complexity of doing business, lowering inflation and driving consumption growth across the retail sector. This will serve as a big booster to India’s economic growth," the RIL chairman said.

"With GDP growth rate having reached 7.8% in the first quarter of this financial year, the new reforms have the potential accelerate the economy even further, raising the growth rate closer to double digits," he added.

The 56th GST Council on Wednesday rationalised the four-tiered tax rate structure into a two-rate structure of 18% and 5%, respectively. A special GST rate of 40% has been fixed for a select few goods and services.

The new tax rates will come into effect from September 22, except for tobacco and related products, for which a date will be announced later.

GST rate cut: Reliance Retail to pass benefits to consumers from day 1, says Isha Ambani

Isha Ambani, who leads Reliance Retail Ventures as an executive director, said that the new GST regime will bring relief to household budgets and simplify compliance for the industry, leading to a win–win situation for both consumers and businesses.

She said that Reliance Retail is committed to passing on the complete benefit of the GST rate cut to customers from the first day of its implementation across all its consumption baskets.

"The GST reforms reflect the Government’s clear intent to improve ease of doing business and promote consumer welfare. Reliance Retail is fully committed to ensuring that entire benefit of this reform reaches our customers transparently and without any delay. Our pledge is simple: whenever costs go down, our customers must get the benefit in their wallets," she added.