GST story: From birth of an idea to midnight launch, full journey of 11 yrs

GST is India's biggest tax reform in 70 years since Independence

The Goods and Services Tax (GST), India's biggest tax reform in the 70 years since Independence, is set to help modernise Asia's third-largest economy.

Here is a look at the timeline that shaped the 'one nation, one tax' system:

• February 1986: Finance Minister Vishwanath Pratap Singh proposes a major overhaul of the excise taxation structure in the budget for 1986-87.

• 2000: Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpyee introduces the concept, sets up a committee headed by the then West Bengal Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta to design a GST model.

• 2003: The Vajpayee government forms a task force under Vijay Kelkar to recommend tax