India, Aug. 26 -- The Goods and Services Tax (GST), launched in 2017, was meant to be a "good and simple tax". Finance minister Arun Jaitley had rightly said during its launch, "There will be problems. We'll see where the shoe pinches as we go along and take steps." The GST regime is now in its ninth year - a good time to see if the shoe still pinches.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Independence-Day proposal for a rationalisation of the rate slabs - 5%, 12%, 18% and 28% - may well prove to be an inflection point in the journey so far. Some reports have suggested a simpler two-slab structure of 5% and 18% for most goods could be in the offing.

Three points are clear. One, there is a realisation that having a welter of rates is not consis...