E-commerce platforms are in a race against the calendar, rushing to bring their systems in line with the GST Council’s newly announced rate slabs before the season’s biggest sales go live. With only eighteen days to adjust, the reforms have landed right on the cusp of the industry’s most lucrative period, leaving companies with little choice but to move at breakneck speed.
Race against the calendar
The Council’s decision on September 3 to streamline the GST structure into two key slabs of 5 and 18%, effective September 22, has triggered an all-hands effort across marketplaces. For companies like Flipkart and Amazon, the stakes could not be higher. Their annual sales spectacles — Flipkart’s Big Billion Days and Amazon’s Great Indian Festival — have become defining events, often contributing a quarter of yearly revenues within a few weeks of shopping frenzy.
In a late evening announcement on Thursday, Flipkart said it will launch its annual sales event on September 23, with Plus and Black subscribers receiving access to deals 24 hours prior. Amazon is also expected to make a similar announcement soon, signaling business as usual despite the sweeping tax transition.
The behind-the-scenes work, however, is anything but routine. Platforms are tasked with updating millions of product listings, recalibrating billing engines, and ensuring airtight compliance across categories, all before the first big sale banners go up.
Flipkart struck an upbeat note, with Rajneesh Kumar, chief corporate affairs officer, saying that timely rollout of the reforms “will surely give a huge boost to consumption across categories, widen market access, and accelerate our collective journey towards a Viksit Bharat”. Amazon echoed the sentiment, pointing to greater predictability and stability in the tax framework, and highlighting how reduced complexity could ease operations for the hundreds of thousands of sellers who rely on its marketplace.
Seller challenges and industry optimism
Yet, optimism isn’t universal. Somdutta Singh, Founder and CEO of Assiduus Global, observed that many sellers are anxious about the transition. “For smaller sellers, the adjustment will take longer. Billing mismatches and compliance gaps are bigger risks when systems are leaner,” she said, adding that invoicing errors and return issues could crop up during the critical festive rush. While the government has rolled out a simplified GST registration scheme to ease the strain on smaller sellers, Singh believes the true test will come only once the sales begin.
Other players, like bigbasket, are adopting a steadying tone. “We are fully prepared to work with our partners and authorities to manage this transition and pass on the benefits to customers,” said CFO Manish Bajoria.