Nearly nine years after the rollout of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), India's corporate sector appears to have overwhelmingly embraced the indirect tax regime, with digitisation and rate rationalisation emerging as its biggest success stories.
However, businesses are now looking beyond basic reforms, seeking quicker refunds, fewer disputes and AI-powered compliance systems.
According to Deloitte India's GST@9 survey released on Tuesday, an overwhelming 99% of respondents reported either a positive or neutral experience with GST, while negative sentiment was negligible at less than 1 per cent.
The survey, based on responses from 1,096 business leaders across eight sectors, including MSMEs, underscores how GST has evolved from a disruptive reform into a widely accepted tax framework.
Introduced on July 1, 2017, GST replaced 17 indirect taxes and 13 cesses. Since then, the taxpayer base has expanded sharply from 66.5 lakh to around 1.65 crore in 2026.
Businesses' wish list
While acceptance is high, companies are pushing for the next phase of reforms.
Around 87% of respondents said interpretational clarity should be the top policy priority, while 61% sought greater uniformity in audits. Faster refunds emerged as another major concern, with 36 per cent highlighting delays that continue to impact working capital.
The survey also found strong support for technology-led reforms.
About 89% of respondents identified AI-powered data processing and reconciliation as their top priority, while 84 per cent backed automatic tax utilisation on the GST portal.
More than half of the participants favoured a unified taxpayer dashboard.
Inverted duty structure reforms also featured prominently on the wish list. Businesses called for expanding the refund formula to cover input services and capital goods, further rate rationalisation and extending refunds for previously accumulated input tax credits.
Deloitte South Asia President (Tax) Gokul Chaudhri said GST has significantly improved compliance and transparency, adding that intelligent and integrated tax capabilities are set to become a reality.
Deloitte India Partner and Indirect Tax Leader Mahesh Jaising said the next stage of GST reforms should focus on easing working capital pressures and making the tax regime more predictable and business-friendly.
