Visakhapatnam: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said the GST 2.0 reforms, which reduced indirect tax slabs to just two, would inject as much as Rs 2 lakh crore into the economy, leaving people with more cash in hand that otherwise would have gone as taxes.

Speaking at the 'Outreach Programme on Next-Gen GST Reforms' organised in Visakhapatnam on Wednesday, the Union Minister explained how the new two-slab tax system that included 5 per cent and 18 per cent would bring down cost of daily supplies and thus reduce the burden on people, especially the poor and middle class. The new GST slabs will come into effect from September 22.

She further said that before undertaking the rate rejig, the NDA government kept five filters- reduction of rate for poor and middle class, fulfilling aspirations of middle class, benefiting farmers community, pro-MSME and sectors that are useful for the country in creating jobs and export potential.

Highlighting the new GST reforms, Sitharaman said they would improve the purchasing power of the common man. On the farm sector, she said the Union government was focusing on farm modernisation.

The minister highlighted that the GST revenues grew to Rs 22.08 lakh crore in 2025 from Rs 7.19 lakh crore in 2018 (FY2017-18). According to Sitharaman, the taxpayer's number grew to 1.51 crore from the earlier 65 lakh. Flaying the previous UPA regime, the FM described the earlier tax structures as tax terrorism and said a lot of exercise went into the implementation of GST as part of one nation-one tax.