Overview
- The new Income Tax Act, 2025 replaces the 1961 law and makes annual incomes up to Rs 12 lakh tax-free, with salaried workers effectively exempt up to Rs 12.75 lakh under the standard deduction.
- GST 2.0 installs two rates of 5% and 18% with a 40% slab for select items, expanding the taxpayer base to over 1.5 crore and taking gross collections to Rs 22.08 lakh crore in FY 2024-25.
- Labour laws are consolidated into four codes that extend social security to unorganised, gig and platform workers and raise the layoff and closure approval threshold from 100 to 300 employees.
- MSME policy lifts investment and turnover limits and doubles credit-guarantee cover for micro and small firms to Rs 10 crore to ease collateral-free borrowing.
- The Viksit Bharat rural jobs law replaces MGNREGA with a 125-day guarantee per household, as the government reports 8.2% GDP growth in Q2 2025 linked to the reform push.