GST will make India a truly unified market for the first time

ON Wednesday, India took a major step towards what is arguably its most far reaching tax reform since independence in 1947.

After 11 years of wrangling and mutual obstructionism by political parties, the upper house of the Indian parliament passed the crucial bill for the constitutional amendment to allow the introduction of the goods and services tax (GST). The lower house, in which the ruling government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party enjoys a majority, has already passed the bill.

In India's case, the GST goes far beyond being a revenue-raising exercise. It has the potential to transform the way business is conducted in the country and could be a game changer for the economy. Effectively, the GST will replace a bewildering array of taxes and levies imposed by India's central government as well as the country's 29 states.