GST: What lies ahead for India's most ambitious indirect tax reform?

The continuation of a business-as-usual approach can undermine the GST's ability to either raise revenues for the government or improve the ease of doing business

What lies ahead for India’s most complex and ambitious indirect tax reform — the goods and services tax or GST? It is often said that the future lies in the past. And in the last five years, since its launch in July 2017, the GST journey has been difficult for both economic and political reasons. The big question, therefore, is whether the GST can wrench itself free from the handicaps of the past and realise its inherent potential.

Hopes of a significant boost to revenues in the past five years have been dashed. Total GST collections in 2021-22 were about