Conversations on Finance

Understanding Goods and Service Tax (GST), its impact and implications

GST, as a concept, introduced by the UPA government in the budget speech by Chidambaram, is a reality today. Pranab Mukherjee, the former president, who was a finance minister, described it as a tribute to the maturity and wisdom of India’s democracy. Arun Jaitley, the finance minister, describes it as the most comprehensive indirect tax reform since independence which will create ‘one tax, one market’ for the nation.

However, there have been voices questioning the move which limits state’s capacity in raising taxes on its own, thus further weakening the federal system.

Aniruddha Rajan, a researcher at PFPAC, who recently worked on a primer on GST, lead the discussion explaining GST, its implications and various comments on the same.