The new GST was designed to bring about a common policy and administrative framework for taxation of the supply of goods and services across the entire country while causing minimum tax based restrictions on trade, besides harmonizing the rates on goods and services.

The GST design revolves around the concept of a single unified tax replacing two sets of taxes in force until then: one was sacrificed by the Centre and the other by the States (see infographic). Two important features of sales tax were critical in determining the India-specific characteristics of GST.