Research Gateway

GST or Goods and Services Tax, the greatest tax reform in India since independence which has been long pending. GST is meant to simplify the indirect tax regime of India by replacing a host of taxes by a single unified tax. GST is the only indirect tax that directly connects all the sector of Indian economy thus enhancing the economic growth of the country by creating a single unified market. More than 160 countries of the world have implemented GST so far followed by France. The idea of GST in India was proposed by AtalBihari Vajpayee in 1999 and a committee was set up under the leadership of Asim Das Gupta the then finance minister of West Bengal. It was supposed to be implemented from 1st April 2010 under flagship of P Chidambaram the then finance minister of UPA government but due to political issues and conflicting interests of various stakeholders it did not came into force. In May 2016 the constitutional amendment bill for GST was passed by LokSabha and deadline of 1st April 2017 to implement GST was set by ArunJaitley the finance minister of India. However, there is a huge outcry against its implementation. This paper presents an overview of GST concept, advantages and explains its features along with focused in challenges faced by India in execution.