The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) has asked all consumer goods companies to immediately lower prices of shampoos, detergents, deodorants and other products on which GST was slashed from 28 per cent to 18 per cent.

Jaitley said the opposition party, when in power, had also delayed a session in 2011 and even earlier because the sittings coincided with election campaigns.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that Moody's upgrade of India's rating was a recognition of the reform process which has gone on in India, particularly in the last 3-4 years.

Ravi Shankar Prasad said that the latest decision reflects government's full commitment to take all possible steps to ensure benefits of implementation of GST to the common man.

Arun Jaitley is on a two-day visit to Singapore. The roundtable was jointly organised by the Ministry of Finance and the High Commission of India in Singapore.

Jaitley acknowledged that there was a "temporary blip" as a result of structural changes that were initiated by the government.

Arun Jaitley made the submissions in his written arguments filed before Justice A K Pathak, who was hearing the chief minister's plea against a trial court's March 9, 2016 order summoning him and others in the matter.

Five ways some restaurants could attempt to con you into paying more and how you can protect yourself.

FM Jaitley also said that rationalisation of GST rates was a long exercise and linking it to Gujarat elections was 'juvenile politics'.

The decisions in the GST Council are "all consensus decisions," he said. "This is really juvenile politics to link it with either elections or political demands".

Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI) welcomed the GST Councils decision, saying it will help restaurants across India rationalise tariffs.

The move was welcomes by the India Inc. which said that the ‘big changes in the GST rates’ will lead to a pickup in consumer demand and significantly revive the business sentiment.

Till March, businesses with a turnover of over Rs 1.5 crore will have to file only GSTR-1 or sales returns by 40th day of the end of the month. This will be in addition to initial GSTR-3B returns.

Industry body Assocham's Secretary General D.S. Rawat said that the "big changes in the GST rates" will lead to a pickup in consumer demand and significantly revive the business sentiment.

At yesterday’s meeting, GST Council decided to slash tax slabs for 178 items from 28 per cent to 18 per cent. It will be applicable from 15th of this month.

Currently, 12 per cent GST on food bill is levied in non-AC restaurants and 18 per cent in air-conditioned ones. All these got input tax credit, a facility to set off tax paid on inputs with final tax.

Earlier in the day, the GST Council decided to reduce tax rate on a wide range of mass use items - from chewing gums to detergents -- to 18 per cent from current 28 per cent.

The all-powerful council pruned the list of items attracting the top 28 per cent tax rate to just 50 from 227 previously, Bihar Deputy CM Sushil Modi told reporters.

Prices of 80 per cent items under the highest slab of 28 per cent under GST are likely to be brought in the 18 per cent tax bracket.

Jaitley was speaking at the National Entrepreneurship Awards 2017 event held on the occasion of the third foundation day of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.