'GST reforms not in response to tariff war, this had to happen'

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday denied that the introduction of GST reforms were linked to the punitive tariffs imposed by the United States, asserting that discussions on Goods and Services Tax rate rationalisation had been happening for a long time.

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"This has been in the works for one and a half years. Who had thought of any tariff war at that time, and several groups of ministers were working on this. And several groups of these GOMs met again, post the Government of India's package, which was sent to the GST council...So these are discussed at various levels at various times. So nowhere close to the tariff war. This had to happen. This was waiting to happen for quite some time. It has happened now," she said at a joint press conference held with fellow ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw and Piyush Goyal.

Ms Sitharaman added that the GST reforms, which came into effect on the first day of Navratri, were received very well by the people of the country.