GST 2.0 ignites record festive sales on day one

Auto, electronic appliance makers gung-ho over festive season bonanza as GST rate cuts bring consumers to showrooms

- OUR CORRESPONDENT

The first day of Navratri this year brought with it not just religious fervour but also an economic surge that many are calling historic.

On Monday, September 22, 2025, the Modi government's GST 2.0 reforms came into effect, instantly reshaping consumer markets and sending ripples of excitement through households, dealerships, and digital platforms. The tax rejig, unveiled as a simplified structure with lower rates across key sectors, translated immediately into lighter price tags, stronger demand and record sales across industries.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi described the reform as “a reform dedicated to the people of India’, and the response from consumers on day one suggested that the policy was received less as a bureaucratic shift and more as a festival of savings. In car showrooms, customers queued in long lines; on e-commerce websites, digital carts filled at unprecedented speeds; and in electronics stores, televisions and air-conditioners were sold in volumes rarely seen on a Monday. The sentiment across trade and industry was that GST 2.0 had turned the start of Navratri into a true economic celebration.

The most visible evidence of the change came from the automobile sector, which had long struggled with affordability issues in its entry-level segments. With smaller sub-four-metre cars moved into the 18 per cent tax bracket and the compensation cess abolished, the first day of the new regime unleashed a wave of demand. Maruti Suzuki alone recorded 80,000 enquiries and delivered 30,000 vehicles, marking its best single-day performance in 35 years. Hyundai dealers registered 11,000 billings, the highest in half a decade, while Tata Motors delivered 10,000 cars and logged more than 25,000 enquiries across its showrooms. Dealerships nationwide reported that the usual bustle of Navratri had been magnified into something extraordinary, with customers rushing to make purchases that had been delayed for years.