New Delhi: India early on Saturday introduced its biggest tax reform in the 70 years since independence from British colonial rule.
The Goods and Services Tax (GST) replaces more than a dozen federal and state levies and unifying a $2 trillion economy and 1.3 billion people into one of the world's biggest common markets.
The measure is expected to make it easier to do business by simplifying the tax structure and ensuring greater compliance, boosting Prime Minister Narendra Modi's economic credentials before a planned re-election bid in 2019.
At a midnight ceremony in parliament's central hall Modi and President Pranab Mukherjee together launched the new tax by pressing a button. "With GST, the dream of 'One India, Great India' will come true," Modi said.
For the first midnight ceremony in the central hall in two decades, Modi was joined by his cabinet colleagues, India's central bank chief, a former prime minister and major company executives including Ratan Tata.
The launch, however, was boycotted by several opposition parties including the Congress Party, which first proposed the tax reform before it fell from power three years ago.
Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh - the architect of India's economic reforms - also gave it a miss.
