On 1 July, India recorded the 7th anniversary of the rollout of the Goods and Services Tax (GST)—the marquee tax reform which unified the country by implementing the idea of ‘One Nation, One Tax’.
The moment got lost in the chaos that ensued in the aftermath of the general election verdict declared on 4 June.
Though the GST has been off to a good start, there are clear signals that red tape, faulty implementation, out of date processes and politics have diluted the original indirect tax reform. In other words, it is crying for a reboot.
What should be the new architecture of GST 2.0? And what is the GST record in the last seven years?
To answer these questions and more StratNews Global spoke to Vivek Johri, the former chairperson of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs or CBIC.
Anil Padmanabhan has been a journalist for the last 36 years. He has worked in various capacities in several publications including Afternoon Despatch & Courier, Press Trust of India, Business Standard, Mint and was based in New York for India Today. He was a Nieman Fellow in 2001. He tweets at @capitalcalculus.
