GST Driven Demand Spike: Digital Front Key to Operational Readiness

The historic Goods and Services Tax (GST) 2.0 kicks in from today. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the 56th GST Council Meeting on September 3 announced a major reform in the GST structure. The existing four slab indirect tax structure was reduced to just two -- 5% and 18% slab. The 12% and 28% slabs were abolished. Another sin tax of 40% was added on certain luxury goods, for which the date hasn’t been announced.

According to experts and estimates, the GST reforms can lead to a major spike in the demand of various goods and services in the upcoming festive season. The Information Technology and digital platforms will have to be equipped accordingly to handle the demand surge. The exercise should be planned keeping multiple factors in mind. 

“It has come as an added responsibility to the Digital and IT fraternity in terms of managing emerging chaos and controlling confusion across the operations due to transition challenges. The most important part to focus is the cross functional stakeholder engagement for clear process guidelines and an instant trouble shooting mechanism,” says Sharad Agarwal, Chief Digital & Information Officer (CDIO), JK Tyre & Industries.

CIOs will have to act on all fronts

On the delivery side, enterprises will have to act reliably not only in delivering the goods but also act tight in customer communication and providing resilient and secure IT infrastructure as peak days arrive.

Bharat Karotra, CTO & Founder, iThink Logistics says, “The festive surge is not just about handling higher traffic; it is about building credibility. CIOs who invest now in resilient infrastructure, secured access, and honest communication will not only navigate the GST-driven spike but also set the foundation for long-term digital trust and customer loyalty.”

The digital frontends and backend will have to be further strengthened including the omnichannel part, “At DTDC, we see technology not just as an enabler but as a true differentiator. Our focus is on ensuring that digital systems remain agile, secure, and omni-channel ready so customers and partners experience seamless access at every touchpoint. 

By aligning our digital backbone with business priorities and building resilience into every layer, we are prepared to turn this seasonal momentum into sustained growth and long-term market leadership," says Rishi Sareen, CIO, DTDC Express.

Capacity, resilience and trust challenge

For CIOs, this is more than a compliance update, it is a capacity, resilience, and trust challenge. Demand will spike sharply, and digital systems must handle surges without compromising security, availability, or customer experience. 

“This requires real-time observability, adaptive scaling, and zero-trust frameworks that can protect both operations and customer trust. Long-term, CIOs who use this season to hard-wire automation, predictive analytics, and cross-channel integration will gain a structural advantage beyond the festival months,” says Karotra. 

CIOs will have to work closely with the COO and CFO towards working on the transition to the new slab structure, says Karotra, “GST rationalisation will amplify festive demand, but only CIOs who treat it like a capacity-and-trust drill will convert it. Align CFO and COO on working-capital and ITC (Input Tax Credit) realities, pre-stage inventory by pin code, and implement real-time telemetry with strict service-level objectives (99.9% uptime, <2s response). Enforce robust fraud and bot defenses, unify identity for seamless access, and deploy policy-based routing to raise first-attempt delivery rates. Combine this with proactive, transparent customer communication, because in peak weeks, reliability isn’t a feature, it is the product.”

While companies are gungho about the demand in the festive season, it remains to be seen if they can bring their act together and manage the order inflows and still be able to garner strong customer satisfaction. Look forward to the Q2 numbers in October-November, by then the election season will also arrive in Maharashtra and Bihar.