9 years of GST: Negative sentiment drops to near zero, businesses look to GST 2.0 reforms

As the goods and services tax regime completes nine years, negative sentiments around the indirect tax levy have come down to near zero, said a new survey.

Deloitte India’s GST@9 survey, which was released on Tuesday revealed near-universal acceptance of GST alongside expectations of a focused reform agenda to shape GST 2.0. “GST continues to enjoy strong and growing confidence across India Inc, with more than 99% of businesses reporting a positive and neutral experience and negative sentiment dropping to near zero, down significantly from 5% in 2025 and 10% in 2022,” said the report.

This trust is driven by key improvements such as digitalisation of compliance (69%), automation of tax processes (54%) and the stabilisation of e-invoicing and e-way bill systems (48%), alongside greater transparency, consistency and ease of doing business.

“It is evident that technology-led administration is pivotal, as organisations increasingly depend on digital systems for enhanced accuracy, speed and predictability,” it further said.

The survey is based on 1,096 responses from leaders across eight industries, including MSMEs.

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However, companies are also hopeful that the government will continue with reforms under GST 2.0. These include resolving ambiguities around interpretation of tax, followed by improving working capital efficiency and addressing the inverted duty structure. On the operational side, businesses seek audit uniformity as well as expeditious sanction of refunds. From a global best-practice lens, there is strong support for centralised audits (72%), allowing reverse charge mechanism payments through input tax credit (70%) and further simplification of the GST rate structure (64%).

“As GST enters its next phase of evolution, it is an opportune moment to address the top policy area of the survey, i.e., working capital concerns, such as expanding the scope of the inverted duty structure refund formula to include input services and capital goods. This is particularly in the backdrop of pro-consumer rate reductions in sectors such as pharma, food processing, EVs and certain consumer goods, where substantial credit accumulation is being experienced,” said Mahesh Jaising, Partner and Leader, Indirect Tax, Deloitte India.

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The survey also revealed that MSMEs are reporting a steadily improving GST experience, driven by reforms such as quarterly return filing, now recognised by 67% compared with just 12% in 2023, and threshold relaxations (57%).

GST was implemented in the country on July 1, 2017. Last year in September, the GST Council approved a number of reforms, including rate rationalisation and an overhaul of the tax structure as part of reforms aimed at GST 2.0. The Council is expected to meet soon to take up further reforms around simplification of processes like registrations and refunds.

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