Prime Minister Narendra Modi took up the Goods and Services Tax Bill in the Lok Sabha on Monday and said it will be a move towards helping get rid of “tax terrorism” in the country, and will also assist in curbing black money. Modi said that his earlier role as Gujarat chief minister helped him understand GST across different states better and that the Bill had been discussed with several members of Opposition, including Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh.

Modi added that states were not self-sufficient but were interdependent and that the GST will help growth in under-developed regions. “It is true that consumer states will benefit more from GST but Centre will compensate manufacturing states in case of losses,” he said.

Earlier, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had introduced the amendments of the Bill to be discussed in the Lok Sabha. The Rajya Sabha passed the Bill last week after adding new clauses to it. The new additions need to be approved by the Lower House of Parliament as well.

The GST Bill seeks to bring in a single tax rate to replace India’s complicated current rules, which include Central excise duty, service tax, additional customs duties, value added tax, entertainment tax and so on. It will replace 17 indirect tax levies. The Centre believes this will help create a unified market in the country.