ECONOMY
Government plans easier compliance, AI-powered enforcement as GST enters 10th year
- IBJ Bureau
- Jun 29, 2026
India is moving the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime towards artificial intelligence (AI)-driven enforcement and simpler compliance as it enters its tenth year in 2026.
The shift aims to trim compliance costs, speed up refunds and tighten enforcement through technology, data sharing and process simplification.
Officials plan to link GST, Income Tax and Customs databases, using the combined data to gauge risk, curb tax evasion and reduce manual intervention, especially for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
The GST rollout has also widened the tax base, improved compliance and lifted revenues, making the indirect tax regime one of India's major economic reforms.
The registered taxpayers’ base has grown from 66.5 lakh at its launch to about 1.6 crore in 2026.
The government had introduced the tax on July 1, 2017, replacing 17 Central and State levies and 13 cesses with a single indirect tax system after years of Centre-State negotiations to build a common national market and reduce cascading taxes.
Then President Pranab Mukherjee had unveiled the GST in the central hall of the old Parliament building at midnight on July 1, 2017.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had called it a “good and simple tax” that would end the harassment of traders and small businesses.
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