5 years of GST: Why the indirect tax regime may not see big-bang reforms

Five years ago, India’s federal and state governments struck a historic deal. From July 1, 2017, a uniform tax on goods and services — marketed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as “One Nation, One Tax, One Market” — replaced a bewildering array of local sales and entry levies. But the many compromises that were struck to bring more than 1 billion people living in 29 states on board are impairing the groundbreaking reform.
 

At first glance, nothing seems terribly out of place. After years of pulling in 1 trillion rupees ($13 billion) a month or less, GST collections