Work-in-Progress

India’s too-big-to-fail GST infrastructure

The technology that powers Goods and Services Tax filing cannot afford to falter. But as businesses queue up to upload millions of returns there is a cloud of uncertainty on what to expect

Arundhati Ramanathan, 21 Aug 2017

GSTN’s flip-flops affect software makers' ability to build solutions on time for which businesses are paying them

An unprepared technology platform impacts timely filing of tax returns. That leads to working capital issues for companies

For a country that boasts of having IT service chops, building the GST infrastructure was its crowning glory moment

GSTN is an unenviable position as the inordinate amount of changes in the law left it little room to launch a fully ready platform

India’s $2.2 trillion economy may be elephantine, but it made a sharp turn on 1 July through a massive reform of its complex taxation system. A new and unified tax, GST (Goods and Service Tax) replaced hundreds of overlapping and cascading ones at the central and state level. It is expected to bring 25% more businesses under the tax net and provide a 4.2% boost to the country’s GDP.

AUTHOR

Arundhati Ramanathan

Arundhati is Bengaluru-based. She is interested in how people use money in the digital age and how new economies will take shape based on that interaction. She has spent over 10 years reporting and writing on various subjects. Previous stints were at Mint, Outlook Business and Reuters.

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India’s too-big-to-fail GST infrastructure