4 governments, 17 years later, GST is finally here!

LIVE

Sat, 01 July 2017

Timeline Refresh

00:06

Arundhati Bhattacharya, chairperson of State Bank of India says, "SBI proudly announces its GST readiness. The biggest Indian Bank offers payment of GST online through internet Banking and SBI Debit cards. GST upto Rs 10,000 can also be deposited in cash/ cheque/draft at our 25473 branches across the country. So, pay online from the comfort of your home/office or visit your nearest branch to pay GST".

00:02

Single biggest tax reform in the history of India became a reality today.

GST catapults India into a select league of nations that have a national sales tax.

Amid boycott of the launch ceremony by principal opposition parties like the Congress which termed it as

"tamasha" (gimmick), the new tax regime replaces the messy mix of more than a dozen state and central levies built

up over seven decades.

The one national GST unifies the country's $2 trillion economy and 1.3 billion people into a common market, an

exercise that took 17 tumultuous years.

The GST will eliminate the compounding effect of the current multi-layered tax system as well as the cross-state

tax heterogeneity by fixing the final tax rate. It is expected to lower the average tax rate on manufactured goods and make

them uniform across states by fixing the final tax rate.

While the measure is billed as making doing business easier by simplifying the tax structure and ensuring greater

compliance, businesses particularly small traders have been a bit nervous about the new tax filing system.

Timeline Refresh

TOP STORIES