At its 56th meeting on September 3, the GST Council, chaired by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, approved a simplified dual-rate structure of 5% and 18%, dropping the earlier 12% and 28% brackets.

For the footwear and apparel sector, the likely big relief is a tax cut: items priced up to ₹2,500 will now attract only 5% GST. At present, the rate is 5% for products up to ₹1,000 and 18% above that. The change is expected to take effect within weeks, just ahead of the festive season rush.

Other decisions in the works include exempting health insurance premiums for senior citizens, lowering GST on life-saving drugs, speeding up MSME registration to three days, and clearing refund backlogs in industries like textiles, pharma, fertilisers and chemicals within a week.

However, opposition-led states such as Kerala, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal have flagged concerns about revenue losses and asked the Centre for compensation.