New Delhi, Oct. 20 -- About 10 days after Deepavali in 2014, a leading international business daily carried an article titled 'India is a nation in need of a trade deal with itself.' The article presented the challenges of moving freight in India where "29 states, as well as the central government, could issue licences, levy taxes and impose regulations."

That was an era when truckers spent barely 40% of their journey time actually driving and the rest was lost at over 650 border checkpoints, toll plazas and entry points.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his address to the nation on the eve of the roll-out of GST 2.0 reforms this year, referred to this bygone era by citing the example of a French logistics firm that discovered that it w...