PM Modi to address nation today at 5 pm

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the nation at 5 pm on Sunday, his office said. As the revised GST rate is coming into force from Monday, it is speculated that the PM will talk about it. However, the Prime Minister’s Office gave no indication of the subject of his address in the evening.

It said on X, "PM Narendra Modi will be addressing the nation at 5 PM this evening."

All are eagerly waiting for the PM’s address as Modi has in the past made major announcements, like demonetisation in 2016. He also directly reached out to people following the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020 through such addresses, informing them on lockdowns, offering them suggestions or highlighting the government's measures to combat one of the most severe health crises to have hit the country and the world.

In 2021, PM Modi had addressed the nation on the occasion of Guru Nanak Jayanti to announce that his government was rolling back the farm laws, which were aimed at reforms in the sector but had drawn fierce protests from a section of farmers, especially of Punjab.

GST rejig
From Monday, the reduced GST rates on about 375 items will come into effect. Prices of kitchen staples to electronics, from medicines and equipment to automobiles, will get cheaper.

The revised GST will be a two-tier structure wherein majority of goods and services will attract tax of 5 and 18 per cent. A 40 per cent tax will be levied on ultra luxury items while tobacco and related products will continue to be in the 28 per cent plus cess category.

Currently, Goods and Services Tax (GST) is levied in 4 slabs of 5, 12, 18 and 28 per cent. Besides, a compensation cess is levied on luxury items and demerit or sin goods.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had last week said that the GST reforms will infuse Rs 2 lakh crore into the economy, leaving people with more cash in hand that otherwise would have gone as taxes.

About 99 per cent of goods under the 12 per cent GST slab currently will move to 5 per cent. The rejig will also result in 90 per cent of items under the 28 per cent tax slab coming down to the 18 per cent bracket.