GST is known as the Goods and Services Tax. It is an indirect tax that has replaced many indirect taxes in India such as the excise duty, VAT, services tax, etc. The Goods and Service Tax Act was passed in the Parliament on 29th March 2017 and came into effect on 1st July 2017.

GST is a comprehensive, multistage, destination-based tax. 

• • It is comprehensive because it has subsumed almost all the indirect taxes except a few State taxes. 
  • It is multi-staged as the GST is imposed at every step in the production process, but is meant to be refunded to all parties in the various stages of production other than the final consumer. 
  • It is a destination-based tax, as it is collected from a point of consumption and not a point of origin like the previous taxes.

• Subsumed bunch of indirect taxes such as VAT, CST, Service tax, CAD, SAD, and Excise
• Lesser tax compliances and a simplified tax policy compared to the previous tax regime
• Elimination of the cascading effect of taxes, i.e. removal of tax on tax
• Reduction of manufacturing costs due to less burden of taxes on the manufactu0rers, thereby fall in prices of consumer goods.
• Lowering the tax burden on the common man, i.e. public will have to spend less money to obtain the same products that were expensive earlier.
• Increase in demand and consumption of goods
• Increased demand will lead to an increase in supply. Hence, this will ultimately lead to a rise in the production of goods.
• Control of bogus transactions through a more transparent mechanism under new regime to curb black money circulation typically followed by traders and shopkeepers
• Boosting and advancing of the Indian economy in the long run

 
These benefits are possible only if the exact benefit of GST is passed on to the ultimate consumer. There are numerous other factors too, such as seller’s profit markup, that determines the final price of goods. GST alone does not conclude the final price of goods.