GST Reform: Ease of Business & Growth - RBI Bulletin

Mumbai, Sep 24 (PTI) The GST reform will have a positive impact on the Indian economy as it will promote ease of doing business, lower retail prices, and strengthen consumption growth drivers, a RBI bulletin said on Wednesday.

It further said global uncertainty remained elevated in the wake of the imposition of US trade tariffs on major trading partners and renewed concerns over the fiscal health of advanced economies.

"The landmark GST reforms should progressively result in a sustained positive impact through significant gains in ease of doing business, lower retail prices and strengthening of consumption growth drivers," said an article on the state of the economy published in the RBI's September Bulletin.

The government has come out with the GST 2.0, a two-rate structure (5 per cent and 18 per cent), replacing the earlier four-rate duty regime. The new rates have come into effect on September 22.

The article said the Indian economy exhibited marked resilience as evident from the five-quarter high growth during Q1:2025-26, propelled by domestic drivers.

The article noted that consumer price index (CPI) based headline inflation edged up, but remained well below the target rate for the seventh consecutive month.

System liquidity remained in surplus, facilitating the pass-through of policy rate cuts, it added.

The article further pointed out that Indian equity markets witnessed bidirectional movements during August-September. India's current account deficit moderated in Q1 over the last year, supported by robust services exports and strong remittance receipts.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), however, said the views expressed in the Bulletin article are of the authors and do not represent the views of the central bank.