Goods and Service Tax (GST): A Game Changer for Indian Economy

Abstract

GST was conceptualized for the first time in 1999 during a meeting between the then PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee and his economic advisory panel. On 8 August 2016, the Constitutional Amendment Bill for roll out of GST was passed by the Parliament, followed by ratification of the bill by states and enactment of the bill in September 2017. The Act was passed in accordance with the provisions of Article 368 of the Constitution, and has been ratified by more than half of the State Legislatures, as required under Clause (2) of the said article. On 12 August 2016, Assam became the first state to ratify the bill, when the Assam Legislative Assembly unanimously approved it. The bill, after ratification by the States, received assent from President Pranab Mukherjee on 8 September 2016, and was notified in The Gazette of India on the same date. A comprehensive dual Goods and Services Tax (GST) has replaced the complex multiple indirect tax structure & thus India’s biggest tax reform finally became a reality from 1 July 2017. So the year 2017 will forever be etched in Indian history as the year that saw the implementation of the biggest and most important economic reform since Independence - the Goods and Services Tax (GST). The present paper highlights the scenario of GST and its decade long evolutionary journey in India. It studies the month wise GST collection in India from July 2017 to January 2019. It also studies the impact of GST on selected sectors. The paper, in the end also studies how GST has become a game changer for Indian Economy.