GST Timeline: 11 years, 3 governments, 3 Finance Ministers

By evening today, the Lok Sabha will likely pass four crucial bills to introduce a country-wide Goods and Services Tax (GST) that would take India closer to being a one unified market.

GST promises to stitch together a common national market by replacing a string of central and local levies such as excise, value added tax, octroi, service tax into a single unified levy.

The government plans to introduce GST from July 1, 2017, more than 11 years after a formal process to introduce it began.

Here’s a look back at how GST, independent India’s biggest reform initiative, has reached the final leg: