New Delhi, Apr 19 (IANS): In the middle of the ongoing general election, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the NDA government scrapped over 1,500 laws in the last five years to ease business operations in the country.

Slamming the Congress, he said before his government came in, Congress-led governments insulted traders and that the business community had to face "laws of jungle and jungle of laws".

On the Goods and Services Tax (GST), he said the new tax regime brought in transparency and revenue of states increased by one-and-a-half times. The number of registered traders rose twice after GST was introduced, he said.

The government has been addressing traders' concerns with GST Council meeting every two months and reviewing the rates. As a result, most of the essential products are now in the zero tax slab, and around 98 per cent goods and services are below the 18 per cent slab, Modi said.

The Prime Minister said that as the country jumped 75 places to the 77th rank globally in terms of ease of doing business in the last five years, he aims to reach the 50th position in the next half decade.