On the completion of five years of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) that was started during the Narendra Modi -led central government the Prime Minister hailed the tax reform and said that GST created 'ease of doing businesses".

PM Modi further said that the GST reform fulfilled the vision of 'One Nation, One Tax'.

"We mark #5YearsofGST, a major tax reform that furthered 'Ease of Doing Business' and fulfilled the vision of 'One Nation, One Tax'," Modi said in a tweet.

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) was rolled out at the stroke of midnight on 1 July 2017.

He tagged a tweet by Citizen engagement platform of the government of India 'MyGovIndia'.

MyGovIndia's tweet further said, "GST has played a key role in defining #NewIndia's economic structure and empowering citizens!"

The image attached with the tweet pointed out that GST has subsumed 17 large taxes and 13 cesses. Further it has created transparency and accountability. Hailing the one nation one tax system, the it also talks about the fact that GST reform has facilitated simple registration and faster refunds. 

In May, the GST collection number was at ₹1,40,885 crore, an increase of 44% year-on-year. This is only the fifth time the monthly GST collection crossed ₹1.40 lakh crore mark since inception of GST and fourth month at a stretch since March 2022.

The two-day 47th GST Council meeting recently concluded in Chandigarh. The GST on numerous items were also revised during the meeting. The GST rates on online gaming, horse racing and casinos will be finalized in the 48th GST Council Meeting which will be held in the first week of August in Madurai.

On the issue of compensation cess, a decision could not be reached. Finance Minister said that broadly states said that compensation can be continued at least for a few years, if not for 5 years.

GST came into existence from 2017. At that time it was decided that states will be compensated for any loss of revenue from the new tax for five years. States have sought an an extension of this compensation mechanism due to the pandemic.

The GST Council - the highest decision-making body of the indirect tax regime - is headed by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and comprises representatives of all states and union territories.