As the Goods and Services Tax (GST) marks nine years since its rollout on July 1, 2017, chief financial officers across industries say the landmark reform has fundamentally reshaped India’s indirect tax landscape by creating a unified national market, improving transparency and digitising compliance. However, they believe the next phase of GST reforms must focus on resolving long-standing issues around working capital, litigation and compliance complexity while leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to make tax administration more efficient. Finance leaders from manufacturing, healthcare, logistics, hospitality and consumer sectors told ETCFO that while GST has delivered significant gains in ease of doing business, businesses now expect a more predictable, technology-driven and litigation-free tax regime.”Over the past nine years, GST has significantly enhanced transparency, standardisation, and digitalisation in India’s indirect tax system. It has improved tax visibility and supply chain efficiency, while driving strong process discipline through technology-led compliance. While working capital challenges remain due to ITC accumulation and refund delays, GST today stands as a stable and mature tax regime,” said Dev Tripathy, CFO, Philips India.Working capital and ITC remain key concernsWhile finance leaders acknowledged GST’s success in simplifying India’s indirect tax structure, delayed input tax credit (ITC) refunds and procedural restrictions continue to impact liquidity, particularly for manufacturers, exporters and capital-intensive sectors.Sneha Oberoi, CFO, Suzuki Motorcycle India, said, “Improvement in credit process required, as working capital got stuck for MSME.” Sourabh Agarwal, Chief Financial Officer, Ester Industries, said reforms should now prioritise capital efficiency.”Going forward, reforms should focus on unlocking capital rather than increasing compliance. Faster ITC refunds, simplified return structures, greater certainty in tax positions and wider adoption of technology-led assessments will help manufacturers deploy capital more productively,” he said.Hospitality companies also continue to seek changes in ITC provisions.Nitin Khanna, CFO, Chalet Hotels, said, “Our biggest priority is to push for rationalizing Section 17(5) to allow ITC on the construction of immovable properties. As the law stands, developers and operators bear a significant, unrecoverable tax cost that inflates project capital requirements and compresses viability.”Businesses seek certainty and fewer disputesA recurring theme among CFOs was the need to reduce litigation through uniform interpretation of tax laws, faster dispute resolution and a more predictable compliance framework.Tripathy said, “Going forward, the focus should be on simplifying compliance, improving liquidity, and ensuring certainty. Key priorities include rationalising the inverted duty structure, expediting refunds, and enabling flexible ITC utilisation. A robust, time-bound litigation framework and uniform interpretation of law across jurisdictions will also be critical to reduce disputes and enhance ease of doing business.”Oberoi welcomed the operationalisation of the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT).”Recently tribunals also introduced so it was a great relief as for even smaller issues business was to go to court. In litigation I feel that focus should be more on resolution mechanism rather than interpretation. It will provide greater certainty to the businesses,” she said.Sameer Agarwal, Group CFO, Manipal Hospitals, echoed similar views. “The GST framework has matured considerably, and I believe the next phase should focus on simplification rather than adding new layers of compliance. First, reducing interpretational ambiguity would go a long way in lowering litigation. A more consistent approach across tax jurisdictions and faster dispute resolution mechanisms would provide businesses with greater certainty,” he said.AI expected to drive the next phase of GSTFinance leaders expect artificial intelligence, automation and data analytics to define the future of GST compliance, making audits more risk-based and reducing manual intervention.Oberoi said, “GST has already created world’s largest digital tax ecosystem. Next step will help in deeper analysis, predictive compliance and greater integration of business and authorities.”She added, “IMS already introduced so I hope when AI will be linked to it then it will help in automation of real time reconciliation rather than manual recon as on today. It will improve accuracy and human efforts.”Aneel Gambhir, CFO, DTDC Express, said, “Artificial intelligence, advanced analytics and real-time data matching will make compliance more automated, predictive and less intrusive. Audits are expected to become more risk-based, allowing compliant taxpayers to focus on business growth rather than repetitive documentation.”Brham Prakash Yadav, CFO, DEE Development Engineers, said, “Looking ahead, GST will become increasingly technology-driven, with AI, data analytics and automation enhancing compliance, audits and reconciliation. A stronger focus on faster dispute resolution, reduced litigation, streamlined ITC processes and risk-based audits will help create a more transparent, efficient and business-friendly tax ecosystem.”A reform that changed India’s business landscapeDespite calls for further reforms, finance leaders unanimously described GST as one of India’s most consequential economic reforms, crediting it with improving supply chains, strengthening governance and formalising the economy.Aneel Gambhir said, “GST has been one of India’s most transformative indirect tax reforms, creating a unified national market and eliminating the cascading effect of taxes.”Ashish Saraf, CFO, SKF India, said, “Nine years after implementation, GST has significantly improved the consistency and transparency of India’s indirect tax framework. For manufacturing businesses, the removal of cascading taxes has enabled a seamless flow of input tax credit, reducing embedded tax costs across the value chain.”Echoing the broader industry sentiment, finance leaders said GST has evolved into a mature tax regime over the past nine years. They believe its next phase should be driven by simplification, faster refunds, reduced litigation and greater use of AI, enabling businesses to focus less on compliance and more on investment, competitiveness and growth.
