“Yet optimism must be tempered with caution. The lived reality of inflation tells another story. Food inflation continues to pinch households. Tomato, onion and grain prices have spiked repeatedly in recent months. For the consumer, whether GST on rice is zero or five percent is irrelevant if the retail price of rice itself has doubled. The government’s emphasis on lower GST rates does not directly address inflation caused by supply chain disruptions, middlemen, hoarding, or rising input costs. Moreover, many essential services that the middle class consumes—electricity, petrol, diesel—remain outside the GST net altogether. These are precisely the costs that hit family budgets most. If fuel prices are high, transport costs rise, and every other commodity becomes costlier. No amount of tinkering with GST slabs can cushion that blow.”
The Panaji market this Navratri was not just a hub of festivity but also of politics and policy. Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant, joined by ministers, the Panaji Mayor and BJP workers, reached out to citizens and traders, highlighting the Centre’s latest round of Goods and Services Tax reforms. The Chief Minister underlined that with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision, GST has been simplified, rates rationalised, and many essentials now taxed at just 0 or 5 percent. His argument is simple: these reforms are a step towards “Ease of Living” for households and “Ease of Doing Business” for traders.
The message sounds positive and reassuring. But does the new GST structure genuinely lighten the burden on the common man, or is it more of a political narrative than an economic reality? There is no denying that the rationalisation of GST is long overdue.
When the tax was rolled out in 2017, the promise was “one nation, one tax,” but in practice, multiple slabs of 0, 5, 12, 18, and 28 percent created confusion and complexity. The latest reforms, by reducing rates on daily-use items to 0 or 5 percent, are in principle, welcome.
For a middle-class household, groceries and everyday goods form a significant portion of expenses. If staples like rice, wheat, pulses, milk, vegetables, soaps, and detergents are taxed minimally or not at all, the relief is real. Even small traders stand to benefit if compliance becomes easier. Fewer forms, faster refunds, and clarity in tax slabs can help reduce the harassment that many small businesses earlier faced. In this sense, the government’s claim that the reforms are people-friendly has merit.
Yet optimism must be tempered with caution. The lived reality of inflation tells another story. Food inflation continues to pinch households. Tomato, onion and grain prices have spiked repeatedly in recent months. For the consumer, whether GST on rice is zero or five percent is irrelevant if the retail price of rice itself has doubled. The government’s emphasis on lower GST rates does not directly address inflation caused by supply chain disruptions, middlemen, hoarding, or rising input costs. Moreover, many essential services that the middle class consumes—electricity, petrol, diesel—remain outside the GST net altogether. These are precisely the costs that hit family budgets most. If fuel prices are high, transport costs rise, and every other commodity becomes costlier. No amount of tinkering with GST slabs can cushion that blow.
For traders, too, the relief is partial. It is true that the GST Council has simplified filing norms, but small shopkeepers and vendors still depend on accountants or consultants to file monthly returns. For them, even a few hundred rupees saved in tax rates is offset by the administrative cost of compliance. The “ease of doing business” will be achieved only when digital systems are truly accessible, and paperwork is reduced to the bare minimum.
The timing of the announcement, during Navratri festivities, is also politically significant. It allows the government to project itself as benevolent, offering a “gift” to people. Yet, as critics point out, there is a difference between giving a gift and returning what was earlier taken away. GST, after all, was introduced by this very government, and it did raise the effective tax burden on several goods and services in its early years. Rolling back rates now is welcome, but it is not a new generosity—it is correction of an earlier imbalance.
For GST reforms to truly benefit the common man, three conditions must be met. First, essential goods must not only be taxed lower but also made affordable through robust market regulation and stronger supply chains. Second, services that weigh heavily on household budgets, like fuel and electricity, must be considered for inclusion under GST to break the endless spiral of cascading taxes. Third, the compliance burden on small businesses must be eased further, with technology made simpler, multilingual, and user-friendly.
The Chief Minister’s optimism in Panaji may not be misplaced, but it is incomplete. Lower GST on daily-use items is certainly a positive step, but it alone cannot transform the cost of living for ordinary families. Until inflation is brought under control, until fuel prices are addressed, and until compliance for small traders is genuinely simplified, GST reforms will remain only half a victory. For now, the reforms are a reason for cautious cheer. But for the common man, the proof will not be in government statements or festive announcements—it will be in the final bill at the market counter.
