India, July 1 -- Reform is not a one-time event, but a continuous process. This adage best explains the journey of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in India. On the midnight of July 1, 2017, India witnessed a tectonic shift in its fiscal architecture with the launch of GST.

Marketed as "One Nation, One Tax", GST aimed to subsume a labyrinth of central and state levies into a unified, destination-based tax. Eight years on, the reform has matured from a disruptive overhaul to a stabilising force in India's indirect tax regime. As we reflect on this transformative period, it becomes imperative to examine the early hurdles, the mechanisms that addressed them, the current state of compliance assurance, and the road ahead.

The idea of a unifi...