CHENNAI: The next phase of Goods and Services Tax (GST) reforms, aimed at easing compliance and strengthening transparency, is expected to build a more enabling ecosystem for startups, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and entrepreneurs, said Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday.
Speaking at the 120th foundation day of City Union Bank, chaired by President Droupadi Murmu, the minister said a task force is working on “next-generation” measures to simplify GST regulations ahead of a council meeting scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday. She described the overhaul as part of the centre’s broader strategy to anchor growth on the principles of “trust, technology and transparency.”
Her remarks follow Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Independence Day pledge of sweeping GST reforms, pitched as a Diwali-season boost for households and enterprises.
Sitharaman also underscored the role of banks in India’s long-term development agenda, urging them to expand credit, support infrastructure, ensure timely funding for MSMEs, bring the unbanked into formal finance and respond to diverse funding needs.
She highlighted recent economic indicators such as GDP growth of 7.8% in the April-June 2025 quarter, outpacing forecasts; consumer inflation at an eight-year low of 1.55% in July after nine straight months of decline; and the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation recording a net addition of 22 lakh members in June, the second consecutive month of record enrolments.
Citing an IIM–Bangalore study, she said Jan Dhan Yojana accounts had safeguarded household savings and they proved valuable during the pandemic.
The minister praised City Union Bank’s emphasis on MSME lending, retail and wholesale trade and agriculture, saying such efforts empower entrepreneurs and farmers and reflect the principle “finance must support growth at the grassroots.”
In her address, President Droupadi Murmu noted that despite progress, challenges persisted in digital literacy and financial awareness. She urged banks to prioritise empowering farmers and the rural economy, and stressed the role of payment banks, digital wallets and banking correspondents in extending services to remote villages.
“With the combined efforts of all stakeholders, people can be better integrated into the banking system through technology, and financial and digital literacy,” she said. Banks, she added, could play a pivotal role in turning MSMEs into engines of growth by extending affordable credit, fostering financial literacy, and backing agri-tech initiatives to make agriculture sustainable and profitable.
FM holds talks with textile exporters on US tariffs
Sitharaman met representatives of the textile industry, reeling under the 50% US tariff, in Chennai on Tuesday. The meeting follows appeals from CM MK Stalin and Industries Minister TRB Rajaa urging the Centre to step in, warning that up to 30 lakh jobs could be at risk.
Exporters including SK Sundararaman, chairman of the Southern India Mills’ Association, and A Sakthivel, chairman of Apparel, Made-Ups and Home Furnishing Sector Skill Council, along with members of 31 textile industry associations, presented a joint memorandum to the minister. They sought relief in the form of liquidity support, relaxed repayment obligations and emergency fiscal measures. “The government assured that relief measures will be announced soon,” Sundararaman told TNIE.