GST 2.0 as a Catalyst for Structural Transformation in India’s Tax Administration

Abstract

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) represent one of the most significant structural reforms in India’s fiscal and constitutional landscape, aimed at unifying a fragmented indirect tax system and strengthening the national market. While the initial phase of GST succeeded in subsuming multiple central and state taxes, its implementation exposed structural complexities, compliance burdens, and administrative inefficiencies that constrained its transformative potential. Against this backdrop, GST 2.0 has emerged as an evolutionary reform agenda focused on structural rationalisation, technology-enabled compliance, and facilitative tax governance. This paper examines GST 2.0 as a catalyst for structural transformation in India’s tax administration from a legal and public policy perspective. It analyses the conceptual and constitutional foundations of GST 2.0, reviews contemporary academic and policy literature, and evaluates its implications for compliance mechanisms, economic formalisation, revenue mobilisation, and cooperative federalism. The study argues that GST 2.0 marks a critical shift from a revenue-centric and control-oriented tax framework toward a simplified, transparent, and trust-based governance model. By strengthening institutional stability, reducing administrative discretion, and leveraging digital technologies, GST 2.0 has the potential to enhance tax certainty, improve compliance legitimacy, and support India’s long-term economic and constitutional objectives.