As both houses of Parliament convened for a joint session to launch the goods and services tax (GST), with Union finance minister Arun Jaitley’s speech reminiscent of Jawaharlal Nehru’s “India’s tryst with destiny”, India heralded the onset of what is undoubtedly the biggest tax reform in its history. Truly, this is another tryst with destiny—one of the most ambitious economic reforms in India since independence—one which has the ability to realign the entire landscape of the country.
For far too long, we have been witness to a maze of taxes and tax laws that have often even left the authorities befuddled. The dream of “One Nation, One Tax, One Market” is now finally a reality and the government deserves applause for deftly negotiating the roadblocks and pushing this through. From a business point of view, an integrated India is a huge positive for everyone involved—be it the Centre, the state governments, or businesses.