India's government will likely not contemplate merging tax rates for the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime in the financial year FY24 to maintain stability. The plan of overhauling tax rates in GST has taken rounds for more than a year now.

In an interview, reported by Reuters, Revenue Secretary Sanjay Malhotra said, "Right now, we are just looking to maintain stability (in tax rates), a stable tax regime. Minor changes will always be there... major taxation change like the merger of tax rates, we are not contemplating in 2023/24."

However, the plan for fewer tax bands in GST is still on the cards, but the timeline is not specified yet.

Malhotra said in the interview, "We would want fewer tax rates, fewer disputes...that is certainly the goal to have fewer rates... and there may be scope to reduce tax slabs... that may be done at some point in time, but not now."

Also, Malhotra added that the Centre would like to have fewer custom tax rates as well going forward.

At present, there are five tax rates under GST ranging from 0% to 28%.

Earlier, in 2021, the government considered overhauling tax rates in GST, most likely merging two of the tax rates and trimming a host of items.

As per the latest Finance Ministry data, GST collection in January 2023 saw a significant increase, reaching over ₹1.55 lakh crore. This marks the second highest-ever mop-up for the GST collection and demonstrates a growth in the country's economy. The revenues for the current financial year up to January 2023 are 24% higher than the GST revenues during the same period last year.