GST Rate Cut 2025: Full List of Cheaper and Costlier Items

The next-generation GST reforms, as announced by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on 15th August 2025 and later recommended in the 56th GST Council Meeting on 3rd September 2025, mark a historic shift in India's indirect tax system. Branded as GST 2.0, these reforms simplify the tax structure into two standard rates, cut GST on daily essentials and medicines, and retain higher rates for luxury and sin goods. Designed to be citizen-centric and pro-business, the reforms aim to enhance the quality of life, simplify compliance, and foster India's economic growth.

Key Takeaways

• GST 2.0 ushers in Next-Gen GST reforms with a simplified two-rate structure (18% standard and 5% merit), plus a 40% demerit rate on luxury and sin goods.
• Essential food items and daily-use goods like Indian breads, UHT milk, paneer, namkeens, chocolates, shampoos, soaps, bicycles, and kitchenware are now cheaper under the new GST rates 2025.
• Healthcare relief is a major highlight — life and health insurance policies are fully GST-exempt, while medicines, lifesaving drugs, medical devices, and diagnostic kits saw significant GST rate cuts.
• Agriculture and labour-intensive industries benefit from rate rationalisation, including tractors, farm machinery, fertilisers, pesticides, handicrafts, textiles, and marble/granite blocks.
• Automobile sector reforms reduce GST from 28% to 18% on small cars, motorcycles (up to 350cc), buses, trucks, ambulances, and three-wheelers, while maintaining high rates for large luxury vehicles.
• Housing and infrastructure relief with GST on cement cut from 28% to 18%, easing construction costs.
• Luxury and sin goods became costlier, with a steep 40% GST rate on tobacco products, pan masala, sugary beverages, luxury cars, yachts, firearms, casinos, betting, and online gaming services.
• Service sector reforms make hotel stays below ₹7,500, beauty & wellness services, renewable energy, transport of essentials, and cultural/artwork-related goods more affordable.

List of Items That Became Cheaper

GST Rate Cuts 18% to Nil

• Paratha, parotta, and other Indian breads
• All individual health and life insurance policies and reinsurance
• Technical documentation for goods exempted under Customs Notification No. 19/2019
• Natural cut and polished diamonds up to 1/4 carats (imported under Diamond Imprest Authorisation)
• Works of art and antiques
• Flight motion simulator and parts
• Target motion simulator and parts
• Parts and sub-assemblies of HACFS
• Low noise amplifiers and vent guide assemblies for the MRSAM system
• Parts and sub-assemblies of IADWS
• Military transport aircraft (C-130, C-295MW)
• Deep submergence rescue vessels
• Unmanned underwater vessels/platforms
• Ejection seats for fighter aircraft
• High-performance batteries for drones and special equipment
• Communication devices, including software-defined radios and accessories
• Air diving, rebreather sets, diving systems, components, and accessories
• Sonobuoys for naval air assets
• Ship-launched missiles
• Rockets with a caliber over 100mm
• RPA (Remote Piloted Aircraft) for military use
• Parts, sub-assemblies, spares, accessories, tools, testing equipment, and literature for various military goods except for specified exceptions

GST Rate Cuts 12% to Nil

• Printed maps, hydrographic charts, atlases, and globes
• Pencil sharpeners
• Writing instruments (pencils, crayons, pastels, drawing charcoals, tailor's chalk)
• Notebooks (exercise, graph, laboratory)
• 33 lifesaving drugs and medicines (Onasemnogene, Mepolizumab, etc.)

GST Rate Cuts 5% to Nil

• Erasers
• UHT milk, pre-packaged paneer, pizza bread, khakhra, chapati, roti
• "3 lifesaving drugs & medicines (Agalsidase Beta, Imiglucerase, Eptacog alfa)"

GST Rate Cuts 18% to 5%

• Daily essentials (Talcum powder, toilet soap, dental care, hair care and grooming products)
• Fertilisers (Sulphuric acid, Nitric acid, Ammonia)
• Agricultural diesel engines (>250cc)
• Tractor parts (Tyres, Tubes, wheel rims, housings, bumpers, hydraulic pumps, brakes, gearboxes, transaxles, wheels, radiators, silencers, clutches, steering wheels, fenders, etc.)
• Extracts and Beverages (Malt and vegetable extracts, coffee and tea extracts, plant-based milk drinks, bottled waters)
• Fats, Oils, and Waxes (Margarine, glycerol, vegetable waxes, insect waxes)
• Sugars and Sweeteners (Sugars, sugar syrups, cocoa products like butter, powder, chocolate)
• Cereals and Baked Goods
• Prepared and Processed Foods (Soups, broths, edible ice, other food preparations)
• Additives and Derivatives (Gelatin, glues based on starch)
• Medical thermometers and physical/chemical analysis instruments for medical use
• Unmanned aircrafts
• Beauty and physical well-being services 
• Synthetic filament tow, staple fibres, waste of manmade fibres
• Bidi wrapper leaves (tendu), Indian katha

GST Rate Cuts 12% to 5%

• Condensed milk, butter, dairy fats, cheese
• Dried nuts and fruits (Brazil nuts, almonds, pistachios, etc.)
• Various dried fruits (dates, figs, citrus, mixed nuts/fruits)
• Starches and inulin
• Animal fats and oils, including pig fats, bovine fats, lard, fish and marine mammal fats
• Sausages, preserved meat, extracts and juices of aquatic animals
• Refined sugar, sugar confectionery, 
• Pasta, extruded snacks
• Preserved vegetables, fruit products, jams, jellies
• Fruit and vegetable juices, pre-packaged tender coconut water
• Roasted coffee substitutes, yeasts, sauces, and seasonings
• Texturised proteins and ready-to-eat namkeens
• Diabetic foods
• Drinking water and soya milk drinks
• Fruit pulp and milk-based beverages
• Basic household and personal care items
• Kitchen and tableware (wood, porcelain, metal utensils)
• Sewing-related items (machines, parts, needles)
• Non-motorised cycles and accessories
• Furniture (bamboo, cane, rattan)
• Lanterns, lamps, and chimneys
• Baby care items (napkins, diapers)
• Footwear valued up to Rs. 2500 per pair (Value cap)
• Fixed Speed Diesel Engines up to 15HP
• Hand Pumps, Drip Irrigation Nozzles and Sprinkler Systems
• Machinery and Parts used in Agriculture, Forestry, Harvesting, Threshing, Poultry-Keeping, Beekeeping, Germination and Composting.
• Tractors up to 1800CC and Agricultural Trailers (self-loading/unloading)
• Hand-Propelled and Animal-Drawn Vehicles
• Fertilisers and pesticides (Gibberellic acid, Specified bio-pesticides and Neem-based pesticides, Registered micronutrients)
• Sand lime bricks and stone inlay work
• Two-way radios (Walkie-talkies) for defence, police, and paramilitary
• Motorised tanks, armoured fighting vehicles, and parts
• Mathematical, geometry, and colour boxes
• Idols, statues, ornamental articles (wood, stone, metal)
• Carved ivory, bone, tortoise shell, horn, coral, mother of pearl
• Hand-painted/drawn art, prints, engravings, lithographs
• Collectors' zoological, botanical, historical items and antiques
• Handcrafted candles, handbags, carved woodware
• Wooden frames, statuettes, wood marquetry, lacquer work
• Cork artware, including sholapith
• Handmade embroidered shawls exceeding Rs. 2500
• Carved stone products and stone artware
• Ceramic statuettes, tableware, and kitchenware
• Ornamental mirrors and glass artware
• Artware of iron, brass, copper alloys, aluminium
• Base metal statuettes, ornaments, picture frames, mirrors
• Handcrafted lamps, bamboo/rattan/cane furniture
• Wooden, metal, textile toys (traditional Indian toys)
• Traditional handcrafted cards (Ganjifa)
• Worked vegetable/mineral carvings, wax/stearin, natural gums/resins
• Traditional hand paintings (Mysore, Rajasthan, Tanjore, Palm leaf, Basoli)
• Original sculptures and statuary in any material
• Handmade paper and paperboard
• Anaesthetics and essential medical gases (Potassium Iodate, Medical oxygen, Hydrogen peroxide)
• General drugs and medicines, including biologics and immunotherapies
• Organs and biological extracts for therapeutic use
• Blood and immunological products, including antisera and toxins
• Medicaments and pharmaceutical products (Ayurvedic, Unani, Homoeopathic included)
• Medical dressings, gauze, bandages
• Sterile surgical goods and pharmaceutical items
• Diagnostic kits and reagents
• Medical gloves
• Blood glucose monitoring systems and test strips
• Medical devices for cardiac care (occlusion devices)
• Vision correction spectacles and goggles
• Medical, surgical, dental instruments and electro-medical apparatus
• Therapeutic and respiratory apparatus, massage and psychological testing equipment
• Breathing appliances and gas masks (excluding simple masks)
• Radiographic and radiotherapy apparatus
• Personal use drugs and medicines
• Job work services in relation to umbrellas; printing of goods under Chapter 48 or 49; bricks; pharmaceutical products (Chapter 30); hides, skins, and leather (Chapter 41)
• Prepared leather after tanning or crusting of bovine, equine, sheep, lamb, and other animals (without hair or wool, excluding heading 4114)
• Chamois, patent, patent laminated, metallised leather, and composition leather (slabs, sheets, strips, parings, dust, powder)
• Skins, feathers, down, and parts of birds (excluding heading 0505)
• Live horses
• marble blocks, granite blocks
• Natural menthol and related products (menthol crystals, peppermint oil, fractionated/de-terpinated oils, spearmint oil, mentha piperita oil)
• Photographic plates and film for X-ray, exposed/developed photographic films, excluding cinematographic films
• Silicon wafers, plastic beads, latex rubber thread, rubber bands
• Whips, riding crops, pots, jars for the conveyance and packing of ceramic goods
• Corrective glasses, flint buttons, lamp and lantern globes, kerosene wick lamp parts
• Milk cans (iron, steel, aluminium)
• Animal shoe nails
• Non-electric bells, gongs, ornaments, photo frames, mirrors, metal bidriware
• Hand-operated rubber rollers
• Contact lenses, spectacle lenses, frames, mountings
• Coir products (except coir mattresses)
• Slide fasteners and parts
• Fuel elements (non-irradiated cartridges) for nuclear reactors
• Third-party insurance of goods carriage
• Admission to cinematograph film exhibitions (ticket price ≤ Rs 100)
• Treatment of effluents by Common Effluent Treatment Plants
• Treatment/disposal of biomedical waste by common biomedical waste treatment facilities to clinical establishments
• Hotel accommodation (value ≤ Rs 7500 per unit per day)
• Mechanical wood pulp, chemical wood pulp (soda or sulphate), chemical wood pulp (sulphite), mixed mechanical/chemical pulp, recovered fibre pulps
• Paper and paperboard packaging (boxes, pouches, cartons, trays, sacks, biodegradable bags)
• Solar cookers, solar water heaters and systems
• Renewable energy devices and parts, including bio-gas plants, solar power devices, wind mills, waste-to-energy plants, solar lanterns, tidal energy devices, and photovoltaic cells
• Fuel cell motor vehicles, including hydrogen vehicles based on fuel cell technology
• Gloves specially designed for sports
• Toys like tricycles, scooters, pedal cars, parts and accessories (excluding electronic toys)
• Playing cards, chess, carom, board games like ludo (excluding video game consoles and machines)
• Sports goods other than general physical exercise equipment
• Fishing rods, line fishing tackle; fish landing, butterfly nets, decoy birds (excluding headings 9208, 9705)
• Sewing threads, yarns, wadding, felt, nonwovens, rubberised yarns and fibres (manmade filaments and staple)
• Metallised, gimped yarns, chenille, twine, cordage, ropes (headings 5404, 5405)
• Carpets and textile floor coverings (knotted, woven, tufted, felt)
• Terry towelling, gauze, tulles, lace, tapestries, labels, badges, braids, embroidery, quilted textiles
• Coated or impregnated textile fabrics, tyre cord fabric, wall coverings, painted canvas, wicks, tubing, belts
• Technical textile products (felt, woven fabrics, bolting cloths, gaskets, washers), caps and hats
• Quilted textile products and made-up textiles with a value up to 2500 rupees, articles of apparel and clothing accessories with a value up to 2500 rupees
• Particle boards, including cement-bonded, jute, rice husk, glass-fibre reinforced gypsum, sisal-fibre, bagasse, cotton stalk, and agricultural crop residue boards
• Hoopwood, split poles, piles, pickets, stakes, roughly trimmed wooden sticks suitable for walking sticks, umbrellas, and tool handles
• Wood wool, wood flour, railway sleepers
• Veneering sheets, plywood, laminated wood sheets, including those for match splints (thickness ≤6 mm)
• Bamboo flooring and bamboo wood building joinery
• Wooden packing cases, boxes, crates, cable drums, pallets, pallet collars, casks, barrels, vats, tubs, coopers' products
• Wooden tools, handles, broom and brush bodies, boot/shoe lasts and trees
• Wood marquetry, inlaid wood, caskets, jewellery/cutlery cases, statuettes, ornaments, wooden furniture
• Other wooden articles, including clothes hangers, spools, bobbins, sewing reels, match splints, pencil slats, boat parts, decorative domestic articles, excluding wood paving blocks and densified wood
• Natural cork (debacked or roughly squared), cork articles (corks, stoppers, shuttlecock bottoms), agglomerated cork and articles
• Transport of goods in containers by rail by persons other than Indian RailwaysTransport of goods in containers by rail by persons other than Indian Railways (5% with ITC or 18% without ITC)
• Renting of goods carriage with an operator with fuel cost included (in the same line of business)
• Multimodal transport of goods within India (no leg through air)

GST Rate Cuts 28% to 18%

• Portland cement and similar hydraulic cements
• Air-conditioning machines with fans and temp/humidity control, Household dish washing machines, Television sets, monitors, projectors, and related reception devices
• All dutiable articles for personal use
• Bidi
• New pneumatic tyres of rubber (excluding bicycles, cycle-rickshaws, tractor rear tyres, and aircraft)
• Road tractors with an engine above 1800cc
• Motor vehicles for transporting 10 or more persons (excluding bio-fuel exclusive buses)
• Petrol, LPG, or CNG motor vehicles up to 1200 cc and a length below 4000 mm
• Diesel motor vehicles up to 1500 cc and a length below 4000 mm
• Factory-fitted ambulances
• Three-wheeled vehicles
• Hybrid vehicles (spark-ignition + electric motor) with up to 1200 cc engine and a length below 4000 mm
• Hybrid vehicles (compression-ignition + electric motor) with up to 1500 cc engine and a length below 4000 mm
• Motor goods vehicles (excluding refrigerated)
• Chassis, bodies (including cabs), parts and accessories for motor vehicles (headings 8701 to 8705, excluding specified tractor parts)
• Motorcycles (including mopeds) up to 350 cc engine capacity
• Parts and accessories for vehicles heading 8711
• Rowing boats and canoes
• Motor vehicle seats
• Spark-ignition and compression-ignition internal combustion piston engines (non-aircraft)
• Engine parts primarily for engines of heading 8407 or 8408
• Pumps for dispensing fuel/lubricants at filling stations and pumps for engine cooling
• Electric accumulators, excluding Lithium-ion types, including separators
• Electrical ignition/start equipment for spark/ compression ignition engines, generators, cut-outs

List of Items That Became Costlier

GST Rate Hikes 5% to 18%

• Coal, briquettes, ovoids, solid fuels, 
• Lignite, brown coal, soft brown coal, peat (initial coal form)

GST Rate Hikes 12% to 18%

• Composite works contracts for offshore oil/gas exploration and production
• Composite earthwork contracts (75%+ value) for the Government
• Composite works contracts by subcontractors for the Government
• Job work services not elsewhere specified (residual entry)
• Other than natural menthol products (menthol variants as above)
• Odoriferous preparations for burning, excluding traditional incense (agarbattis, lobhan, dhoop variants)
• Biodiesel (excluding that supplied for blending with HSD)
• Goods related to petroleum exploration, mining, and specific contractual petroleum operations
• Professional, technical, business services, and Support services for petroleum crude/natural gas exploration, mining, and drilling
• Support services to petroleum crude/natural gas exploration, mining, and drilling
• Chemical wood pulp dissolving grades
• Various uncoated paper and paperboard for writing, printing, graphic purposes, kraft paper
• Speciality papers: greaseproof, glassine, composite, corrugated, creped, coated paper
• Articles of apparel, clothing accessories, made-up textile articles, cotton quilts and quilted textiles with a value above 2500 rupees
• Air transport of passengers in classes other than economy
• Passenger transport by motor vehicle with fuel cost included (other than same line of business)
• Transport of goods in containers by rail by persons other than Indian Railways
• Transportation of natural gas, petroleum crude, motor spirit, high-speed diesel or ATF by pipeline
• Transport of goods by Goods Transport Agency (GTA)
• Renting of motor vehicles with an operator for passenger transport, with fuel cost included
• Renting of goods carriage with an operator with fuel cost included
• Multimodal transport of goods within India

GST Rate Hikes 28% to 40%

• Pan masala
• Sugary and flavoured beverages, including carbonated drinks
• Caffeinated beverages
• Revolvers and pistols (excluding headings 9303, 9304)
• Smoking pipes, cigar or cigarette holders and parts
• Unmanufactured tobacco, tobacco refuse (excluding tobacco leaves); Cigars, cheroots, cigarillos, cigarettes; other manufactured tobacco and substitutes, including homogenised/reconstituted tobacco, extracts, essences
• Products containing tobacco or nicotine substitutes intended for inhalation without combustion
• Motor cars and other passenger motor vehicles (other than 18%)
• Hybrid vehicles (spark-ignition + electric motor) with an engine above 1200 cc or a length above 4000 mm
• Hybrid vehicles (compression-ignition + electric motor) with an engine above 1500 cc or a length above 4000 mm
• Motorcycles with an engine capacity of above 350 cc
• Aircraft for personal use
• Yachts and pleasure or sports vessels
• Admission to casinos, race clubs, and sporting events (e.g., IPL)
• Race club services for licensing bookmakers
• Leasing or rental services (without operator) for goods attracting 40% GST
• Betting, casinos, gambling, horse racing, lottery, online money gaming, actionable claims