India launched its nationwide Goods and Services Tax on 1 July 2017. The reform replaced many central and state indirect taxes with a coordinated value-added tax framework for goods and services.
India’s GST uses multiple rate slabs rather than one universal rate. The system includes Central GST and State GST on many within-state transactions, while Integrated GST applies to interstate supplies and imports. A GST Council, chaired by the Union finance minister, recommends key elements of the system.
The reform was intended to reduce tax-on-tax effects and create a more unified national market. It did not make every tax disappear: some items and sectors have special treatment or remain outside the principal GST structure. India’s system is therefore a distinctive federal version of value-added taxation.