Latest Change of GST Tax Rate at 18% in 177 items

The GST council meeting trimmed the list of items in the top 28 per cent GST bracket to just 50 from current 228. Only luxury and sins goods are now in highest tax bracket.

GST council meeting, GST new rates, tax reduced, arun Jaitley, 18 per cent GST, restaurants cheaper, india news, indian express

GST Council meeting: Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley along with MoS for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla and Finance Secretary Hasmukh Adhia (L) at the 23rd GST Council Meeting, in Guwahati on Friday. PTI Photo

Offering a huge relief to consumers and businesses, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council on Friday slashed tax rates on as many as 177 items of daily consumption to 18 per cent from the top tax bracket of 28 per cent. In the process, the council trimmed the list of items in the top 28 per cent GST bracket to just 50 from current 228. Only luxury and sins goods are now in highest tax bracket.

Addressing a brief presser, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said a uniform 5 per cent GST will be charged on food bill in both air-conditioned and non-AC. At present, 12 per cent GST on food bill is levied in non-AC restaurants while 18 per cent in air-conditioned ones. However, restaurants in starred-hotels that charge Rs 7,500 or more per day room tariff will be levied 18 per cent GST but input tax credit is allowed for them

Chewing gum, chocolates, coffee, custard powder, marble and granite, dental hygiene products, polishes and creams, sanitary ware, leather clothing, artificial fur, wigs, cookers, stoves, after-shave, deodorant, detergent and washing power, razors and blades, cutlery, storage water heater, batteries, goggles, wrist watches and mattress are among the products on which tax rate has been reduced from 28 per cent to 18 per cent.

Wire and cables, furniture, mattress, trunk, suitcase, detergents, shampoos, hair cream, hair dyes, make up, fans, lamp, rubber tubes and microscope are some other items on which tax rate has been cut from 28 per cent to 18 per cent.

A look at the of items in which tax rates have been trimmed to 18 per cent:

• Chewing gum / bubble gum and white chocolate, not containing cocoa
• Cocoa butter, fat and oil
• Cocoa powder, not containing added sugar or sweetening matter
• Chocolates and other food preparations containing cocoa
• Malt extract; food preparations of flour, groats, meal, starch or malt extract, not containing cocoa or containing less than 40% by weight of cocoa calculated on a totally defatted basis, not elsewhere specified or included; food preparations of goods of heading 0401 to 0404, not containing cocoa or containing less than 5% by weight of cocoa calculated on a totally defatted basis not elsewhere specified or included [other than preparations for infants or young children, put up for retail sale and mixes and doughs for the preparation of bakers’ wares of heading.
• Waffles and wafers coated with chocolate or containing chocolate
• Food preparations not elsewhere specified or included i.e. Protein concentrates and textured protein substances, Sugar-syrups containing added flavouring or colouring matter, not elsewhere specified or included; lactose syrup; glucose syrup and malto dextrine syrup, Compound preparations for making non-alcoholic beverages, Food flavouring material, Churna for pan, Custard powder
• Other non-alcoholic beverages
• All goods [including aerated waters], containing added sugar or other sweetening matter or flavoured
• Marble and travertine, other than blocks
• Granite, other than blocks
• Portland cement, aluminous cement, slag cement, super sulphate cement and similar hydraulic cements, whether or not coloured or in the form of clinkers
• Paints and varnishes (including enamels and lacquers) based on synthetic polymers or chemically modified natural polymers, dispersed or dissolved in a non-aqueous medium; solutions as defined in Note 4 to this Chapter
• Paints and varnishes(including enamels and lacquers) based on synthetic polymers or chemically modified natural polymers, dispersed or dissolved in an aqueous medium
• Other paints and varnishes (including enamels, lacquers and distempers); prepared water pigments of a kind used for finishing leather
• Artists’, students’ or signboard painters’ colours, modifying tints, amusement colours and the like, in tablets, tubes, jars, bottles, pans or in similar forms or packings
• All goods, i.e. preparations for use on the hair such as Shampoos; Preparations for permanent waived or straightening; Hair lacquers; Brilliantines (spirituous); Hair cream, Hair dyes (natural, herbal or synthetic) [other than Hair oil]
• Preparations for oral or dental hygiene, including and powders; yarn used to clean between the teeth (dental floss), in individual retail packages [other thandentifrices in powder or paste from (tooth powder or toothpaste)]
• Pre-shave, shaving or after-shave preparations, personal deodorants, bath preparations, depilatories and other perfumery, cosmetic or toilet preparations, not elsewhere specified or included; prepared room deodorisers, whether or not perfumed or having disinfectant properties; such as Pre-shave, shaving or after-shave Preparations, Shaving cream, Personal deodorants and antiperspirants
• Organic surface-active products and preparations for washing the skin, in the form of liquid or cream and put up for retail sale, whether or not containing soap; paper, wadding, felt and nonwovens, impregnated, coated or covered with soap or detergent
• Organic surface-active agents (other than soap); surface-active preparations, washing preparations (including auxiliary washing preparations) and cleaning preparations, whether or not containing soap, other than those of heading.
• Lubricating preparations(including cutting-oil preparations, bolt or nut release preparations, antirust or anti-corrosion preparations and mould release preparations, based on lubricants) and preparations of a kind used for the oil or grease treatment of textile materials, leather, furskins or other materials, but excluding preparations containing, as basic constituents, 70% or more by weight of petroleum oils or of oils obtained from bituminous minerals
• Polishes and creams, for footwear, furniture, floors, coachwork, glass or metal, scouring pastes and powders and similar preparations (whether or not in the form of paper, wadding, felt, nonwovens, cellular plastics or cellular rubber, impregnated, coated or covered with such preparations), excluding waxes of heading
• Modelling pastes, including those put up for children’s amusement
• Preparations and charges for fire-extinguishers; charged fire-extinguishing grenades
• Hydraulic brake fluids and other prepared liquids for hydraulic transmission, not containing or containing less than 70% by weight of petroleum oils or oils obtained from bituminous minerals
• Anti-freezing preparations and prepared de-icing fluids
• Floor coverings of plastics, whether or not self-adhesive, in rolls or in form of tiles; wall or ceiling coverings of plastics
• Other articles of plastics and articles of other materials of headings [other than bangles of plastic, PVC Belt Conveyor, plastic beads and plastic tarpaulins]
• New pneumatic tyres, of rubber [other than of a kind used on/in bicycles, cycle-rickshaws and three wheeled powered cycle rickshaws; and Rear Tractor tyres]
• Retreaded or used tyres and flaps
• Inner tubes of rubber [other than of a kind used on/in bicycles, cyclerickshaws and three wheeled powered cycle rickshaws; and Rear Tractor tyre tubes]
• Other articles of vulcanised rubber other than hard rubber (other than erasers)Hard rubber (for example ebonite) in all forms, including waste and scrap; articles of hard rubber
• Trunks, suit-cases, vanitycases, executive-cases, brief-cases, school satchels, spectacle cases, binocular cases, camera cases, musical instrument cases, gun cases, holsters and similar containers; travellingbags, insulated food or beverages bags, toilet bags, rucksacks, handbags, shopping bags, wallets, purses, mapcases, cigarette-cases, tobacco- pouches, tool bags, sports bags, bottlecases, jewellery boxes, powder-boxes, cutlery cases and similar containers, of leather, of sheeting of plastics, of textile materials, of vulcanised fibre or of paperboard, or wholly or mainly covered with such materials or with paper [other than School satchels and bags other than of leather or composition leather, Toilet cases, Hand bags and shopping bags, of artificial plastic material, of cotton, or of jute, Vanity bags,
• Handbags of other materials excluding wicker work or basket work.
• Articles of apparel and clothing accessories, of leather or of composition leather
• Articles of gut (other than silk-worm gut), of goldbeater’s skin, of bladders or of tendons
• Particle board, Oriented Strand Board (OSB) and similar board (for example, wafer board) of wood or other ligneous materials, whether or not agglomerated with resins or other organic binding substances, other than specified boards
• Fibre board of wood or other ligneous materials, whether or not bonded with resins or other organic substances, other than specified boards
• Plywood, veneered panels and similar laminated wood
• Densified wood, in blocks, plates, strips, or profile shapes
• Wooden frames for paintings, photographs, mirrors or similar objects
• Builders’ joinery and carpentry of wood, including cellular wood panels, assembled flooring panels, shingles and shakes
• Wood paving blocks, articles of densified wood not elsewhere included or specified, Parts of domestic decorative articles used as tableware and kitchenware
• Wall paper and similar wall coverings; window transparencies of paper
• Artificial flowers, foliage and fruit and parts thereof; articles made of artificial flowers, foliage or fruit
• Wool or other animal hair or other textile materials, prepared for use in making wigs or the like
• Worked monumental or building stone (except slate) and articles thereof, other than goods of heading 6801; mosaic cubes and the like, of natural stone (including slate), whether or not on a backing; artificially coloured granules, chippings and powder, of natural stone (including slate); of marble, travertine and alabaster,
  of Granite, of Other calcareous stone
• Worked slate and articles of slate or of agglomerated slate
• Panels, boards, tiles, blocks and similar articles of vegetable fibre, of straw or of shavings, chips, particles, sawdust or other waste, of wood, agglomerated with cement, plaster or other mineral binders
• Articles of plaster or of compositions based on plaster; such as Boards, sheets, panels, tiles and similar articles, not ornamented
• Articles of cement, of concrete or of artificial stone, whether or not reinforced; such as Tiles, flagstones, bricks and similar articles, Building blocks and bricks, Cement bricks, Prefabricated structural components for Building or civil engineering,