GST slabs can be reduced to three from five but will take time: Sushil Modi

Slabs under Goods and Services Tax (GST) can be reduced to three from five at present for the convenience of consumers and businesses though it will take some time, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi.

Narendra Modi also heads high level minister panel on GST.

In an interview to PTI Bhasha, Modi said that there are five slabs in GST and "there is an intention to reduce it to three slabs but it will take some time" as it is related to states' revenue.

Reacting to questions raised by former finance minister P Chidambaram that why rates of 88 items were not reduced by GST council in 2017, Modi said: "This is not a decision where only BJP government is involved. The decision has been taken by GST Council in which congress led governments are also involved".

He said that after implementation of GST, initially it was to ensure that there should be no revenue loss and then rate on many items were gradually reduced with stabilisation of revenue

BJP chief Amit Shah, Nitish Kumar lay ground work for 2019 Lok Sabha battle

If the broad understanding reached between Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah and Janata Dal (United) chief Nitish Kumar over their breakfast meeting in Patna on Thursday holds firm in the coming months, the 2019 Lok Sabha polls could see the JD(U) contesting on less than a dozen of the state’s 40 Lok Sabha seats.

People with knowledge of the matter said top BJP and JD(U) leaders also discussed the possibility of holding the assembly polls in Bihar more than 18 months ahead of schedule, along with the Lok Sabha polls. If the BJP gets to contest the majority of Bihar’s Lok Sabha seats, the JD(U) could get to contest the lion’s share of the state’s 243 assembly seats. The BJP leadership recognised Kumar as the leader of the coalition in Bihar.