Rationalisation of Good and Service Tax before the festive season will help demand and decision by the government to do it at this point in time is also good, said Bhaskar Bhat, MD of Titan Company.

“It’s well before the festive season and it augurs well for the economy,” Bhat said

The GST council in its meeting on Saturday rationalised rates for over 52 items.

The store expansion this year will be more aggressive than last year.

There is still a lot of work to be done on rationalisation, simplification and also in terms of reducing one rate from 12 percent to 18 percent combining to 16 percent, said Harsh Mariwala, founder of Marico.

“The government is going in right direction and they will now wait and watch what the impact of all these changes on revenues,” he said.

Mariwala is optimistic that GST will have a positive impact on the economy, said Mariwala.

On the business front, he said, “Rural has done better than urban so far. Overall monsoon is meeting the expectation but there are certain regions – Gujarat, Bihar and few other states which are very deficient. So I wouldn’t call it great. It’s good in many parts but not so good in some parts.”