GST as a Tool for Equity

GST 2.0 is already easing the financial burden on everyday essentials. Household items like soap, toothpaste, bread, and medicines now attract either 5% GST or no tax at all reducing costs for low-income households and broadening affordability of basic goods (Home – Goods and Services Tax Council | Goods and Services Tax Council). Much-needed relief is also visible in rural and agricultural sectors, with tractors and irrigation gear moving from a 12% to a 5% slab, cutting mechanization costs for small farmers. (Home – Goods and Services Tax Council | Goods and Services Tax Council)

This approach conveys a clear message: equity by design, not by accident. When subsidies and tax reforms reach the bottom of the pyramid, they help shift consumption toward necessities reducing inequality and ensuring that growth is not just trickle-down but bottom-up. For small farmers, these savings could mean reinvestment in production, better yields, and even financial stability.

GST 2.0 promises cheaper essentials, but its real test lies in whether it can drive inclusive growth. Today, rural MSMEs, the backbone of India’s economy often misses out on input tax credits due to compliance and digital barriers, while larger firms capture most of the benefits. At the same time, disability aids like prosthetics and wheelchairs still attract a 5% GST, effectively taxing inclusion. Future reforms that simplify digital filing, support formalization, and exempt essential aids can transform GST from a cost-relief measure into a catalyst for equity and competitiveness.

GST as a Lever for Sustainable Development

On the sustainability front, GST 2.0 advances positive signals. The GST Council has slashed tax on renewable energy components such as solar cells, biogas plants, windmill parts from 12% to 5% (The Economic Times). This alone is projected to lower capital costs for solar and wind projects by around 5%—translating to cost reductions of ₹0.10 per unit for solar and ₹0.15–₹0.17 for wind power. (The Times of India). These savings bolster financial viability, encourage domestic manufacturing, and potentially drive consumer benefits via cheaper electricity, reinforcing India’s renewable energy trajectory. Currently, solar power capacity in India stands at nearly 119 GW, with the target set at 500 GW by 2030 (Press Note Details: Press Information Bureau). The GST cut may well be the nudge needed to unlock more projects and drive decentralized energy solutions across India.

However, against this backdrop of intention, a paradox arises: GST’s broad cuts also make carbon-intensive goods like small cars, two-wheelers, TVs, and air conditioners cheaper moving from 28% to 18% slabs. (Home – Goods and Services Tax Council | Goods and Services Tax Council) While this boosts middle-class consumption, it risks undermining sustainability by encouraging higher fossil fuel use and reshaping lifestyles in ways that compromise well-being. Greater affordability of such goods can mean more time indoors, higher screen dependency, reduced physical activity, and reliance on artificial cooling rather than natural adaptation. Research links prolonged screen use to sedentary behaviour and rising obesity and anxiety rates, while studies on heat resilience show that over-dependence on cooling devices reduces natural heat tolerance, leaving people more vulnerable when access is unavailable (PMC; Arxiv). In effect, tax relief on these commodities may unintentionally lock households into unsustainable and less healthy consumption patterns.

Growth, Development, and Divergence

India’s growth trajectory now hinges on how GST 2.0 tax reforms are steered. If applied with intent, they can fortify the lower-income base driving inclusive spending on health, education, and livelihoods while simultaneously accelerating a green transition toward clean jobs and global competitiveness. Yet without this dual lens, the reform risks serving only conventional growth, skewed toward urban consumption, auto sales, and middle-class comfort rather than developmental equity or decarbonization. Economists estimate that the full pass-through of GST cuts could lower headline inflation by 0.5–1 percentage point, boosting purchasing power and consumption (HSBC India, ING Think), while also cushioning GDP growth by 0.3–0.5%, offsetting risks from global shocks like US tariffs (The Economic Times). These are critical advantages, but their true value lies in being channelled toward inclusive and sustainable development. Otherwise, GST 2.0 may simply amplify those already advantaged, sidelining the very goals of equity and climate resilience. India has the chance to rewrite this narrative if it wields GST not just as a fiscal tool, but as a value-driven instrument to build a fairer, cleaner future.

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This is surprising, because sports, at the grassroots, is a powerful driver of social change and inclusion [2]. Regular participation improves physical health, nurtures critical life skills like communication, leadership and problem-solving. For some, it even paves a pathway for a future sports-focussed career. The WHO recommends at least 60 minutes of daily physical activity for children. Yet millions in India suffer because of dearth of opportunities to play structured sports [3].

While CSR investments in sports are steadily catching up since 2023, most funds flow into infrastructure, elite athletes and sponsorships. Few companies have attempted to instil sports as a way of life in the grassroot levels.

CSR investment in sports has been abysmally low throughout the last decade
% allocation of CSR funds in sports from 2018-19 to 2023-24

Why are CSRs shying away from such high-impact space?

1. Annual investment cycles restrict outcome orientation: CSR budgets typically run in annual cycles, and companies look for outcomes they can report within the year. Backing elite athletes, sponsoring teams, or building visible infrastructure produces quick, tangible results. In contrast, grassroots sports require patient, long-term investment — building facilities, training coaches, identifying young talent, and sustaining programs. The real impact often shows up years later, making it harder to fit into yearly CSR scorecards.
2. The still narrow outlook toward sports hinders impact innovation: Sports is still seen by many companies as “extra-curricular” rather than a developmental activity. The 2016 amendment to the Companies Act reinforced this by listing CSR in sports largely as infrastructure creation, facility upgrades, or sports science support. While important, these narrow categories overlook sports’ broader role in health, confidence, gender equity, and social inclusion.

These barriers are real, but not insurmountable. When aligned with government programs such as Khelo India and Fit India, CSR can play a powerful complementary role, especially in areas where state outreach is weak or uptake remains low.

Consider these examples. HCL Foundation’s Sports for Change works with underserved communities in Noida and Lucknow, reaching 15,000 students across 20 schools through sports education, infrastructure, and performance pathways [4]. Hyundai’s Samarth programme uses structured sports interventions to empower specially-abled children, showing how inclusion can be built on the field [5]. Roots Foundation’s Rural Youth Programme provides rural girls with exposure, training, and mentorship, linking sports to gender equity, health, and community participation [6].

These stories show that even modest, sustained CSR inputs at the grassroots ripple out into broader gains: healthier children, more confident youth, stronger communities, and occasionally, the emergence of unexpected talent from remote corners of India.

With CSR allocations growing year after year, the moment is right for companies to reposition sports as a multiplier of impact. Four opportunities stand out:

• Link sports with the SDGs: Sports is a proven enabler of health (Goal 3), education (Goal 4), gender equality (Goal 5), reduced inequalities (Goal 10), and inclusive communities (Goal 16). CSR programmes can integrate health check-ups into school sports, build life skills through play, and ensure girls have equal opportunities on the field.
• Play early, build pathways: By investing in school and community-level programmes, CSR can nurture participation from an early age. Linking these initiatives to district-level or state-level platforms (like Khelo India centres) helps build a wide talent pipeline that combines developmental outcomes and with sporting excellence.
• Structured public–private partnerships (PPPs): By partnering with government schemes and leveraging underused infrastructure, CSR can stretch its impact while improving execution speed. Public–private coordination also gives companies legitimacy and scale.
• Patient investment mindset: Grassroots sports need coaches, safe spaces, and equipment — all of which require steady funding over many years. CSR must move away from short-term “projects” to long-term “impact investments” that allow change to take root.

Sports can no longer be treated as an afterthought in CSR portfolios. Companies have both an opportunity and a responsibility to see it as a strategic investment — one that delivers long-term returns in health, education, social cohesion, and even talent development for the nation. If CSR frameworks move beyond short-term outputs and embrace patient, collaborative investment, India can build a true sporting culture from the ground up.

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This report outlines eight lessons learned which has helped Development Research Communication and Services Centre (DRCSC) design and implement an Adaptation Fund sponsored and NABARD supported climate change adaptation project in 40 villages of Purulia and Bankura districts of West Bengal in between 2015 and 2021.

The lessons, thus, have a strong evidence base, and this report offers practical solutions for climate change practitioners, policymakers, government, and private organizations who want to implement similar climate change adaptation programs in drylands, drought-prone areas, and semi-arid regions of India. The document aims to inform policy recommendations for climate change adaptation programs specifically for small and marginal farmers.

You can download the report here.

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The Global Partnership forum saw the official launch of the Resource Guide titled “wPOWER: Connecting the Dots” a knowledge product created by Re-emerging World. The resource guide outlines how wPOWER India adopts a market-based approach to help the entire clean energy value chain provide workable solutions for rural India.

Mainstream interventions have attempted to address rural access to clean energy in the past. Majority of large scale efforts have focused on generating clean energy awareness or on providing access to clean energy solutions. Women’s empowerment efforts have promoted entrepreneurship while wider development efforts have aimed to create a supportive stakeholder ecosystem. Very few initiatives on scale, have however, attempted to address all of these issues at one go. This is where, wPOWER India is unique.

The Resource Guide explains about this uniqueness and how the wPOWER initiative connects all the vital dots

• Women entrepreneurship,
• Clean energy awareness, last mile clean energy access
• An enabling partnership ecosystem.

It aims to equip readers with an understanding of how a diverse ecosystem comprising of various stakeholders including donors, the private sector, government agencies and financial institutions can contribute towards scaling and replicating the wPOWER India model.

Click the below link to access and download the full guide.

2015 wPOWER Resource Guide

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