What began as a bumpy, ambitious experiment in tax restructuring has become a major fiscal reform for the Modi government. When India launched the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on 1 July 2017, it set out to replace a patchwork of central and state levies—including excise duty, service tax, state VAT, entry taxes and octroi—with a shared, destination-based tax.

Nine years on, GST is a central part of India’s public finances. Monthly gross collections have crossed Rs 2 lakh crore, and the taxpayer base has expanded substantially.

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GST is a dual system. Intra-state sales attract Central GST (CGST) and State GST (SGST), while inter-state sales and imports attract Integrated GST (IGST), which is apportioned between the Centre and the destination state. At launch, most goods and services fell into four main rate slabs—5%, 12%, 18% and 28%—alongside nil rates for some essentials and special rates for items such as gold.

The biggest recent reset came with GST 2.0, approved by the GST Council on 3 September 2025 and brought into effect on........

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