New GST Rates List in FY 2025-26: GST Tax Slabs, Item Wise Rates

GST, a singular tax system, adopted in India in 2017 as a part of ‘One Nation. One Tax’ initiative led by the Central Government. It has replaced several indirect taxes such as Value Added Tax (VAT), Service Tax and Excise Duty. The earlier multi-tax system made accounting complex, businesses needed to pay high compliance costs. The system in a way discouraged business transactions, and prevented the economy from growing at a rapid pace. On the other hand, GST is a simplified system where accounting and return filing is comparatively easier. In this blog, we will walk you through GST rates which were announced under GST Reforms 2.0 on 3rd September, 2025.

GST Rate Structure [Revised in September 2025]

On September 3, 2025, the 56th GST Council meeting revised the structure of Goods and Services Tax in India, which takes effect on September 22, 2025, on the eve of commencing the Navratri. 

The new structure simplifies the former multi-tier system (0%, 5%, 12%, 18% and 28%) into a two-tier system of 5% and 18%, and a special 40% sin good slab. 

Old GST Tax Slabs: 0%, 5%, 12%, 18% and 28%

New GST Tax Slabs: 5%, 18%, 40% (Sin and Luxury Products)

These reforms, announced by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, will decrease tax burden on ordinary households, increase consumption, ease compliance among businesses and solve problems such as inverted duty structures. 

Following is a summary of the amended GST rate structure according to available information.

Key Features of the Revised GST Rate Structure [New GST Slabs]

0%: Basic goods and services such as some food products, medical care, life saving medicines, etc. transferred to the 0% rate to save costs to consumers.

5%: It consists of all the essential items which are required in day-to-day life.

18%: This slab consists of non-essential items which are not frequently required. 

40%: The latest 40% tax slab has been implemented in select luxury and sin products e.g. high-end cars, tobacco, cigarettes, pan masala, gutkha, and aerated drinks.  

Read More: GST State Code List and Jurisdiction

New GST Rates List as per September 2025 Update

The following is the list of items with their update GST rates as per GST Reforms 2.0 finalised by GST Council on 3rd September, 2025:

Items with GST Rate Revised to 0%

• 33 Life-saving drugs and medicine
• Cancer medicines
• Medication for rare diseases
• Individual life insurance
• Health policies
• Maps
• Charts
• Globes
• Pencils
• Sharpeners
• Crayons
• Pastels
• Exercise Books
• Notebooks
• Erasers
• Ultra-High Temperature (UHT) milk
• Chena or paneer, pre-packaged and labelled
• Pizza bread
• Khakhra
• Chapathi or Roti

Items with GST Rate Revised to 5%

• Live horses
• Condensed milk
• Other dried nuts (almonds, hazelnuts, chestnuts, pistachios, pine nuts, etc.)
• Dates, figs, pineapples, avocados, guavas, mangoes (dried)
• Citrus fruits (oranges, mandarins, grapefruit, lemons, limes, dried)
• Malt (roasted or not)
• Starches, inulin
• Vegetable saps, extracts, agar, thickeners
• Bidi wrapper leaves (tendu)
• Other dried fruits and nut mixtures (except tamarind)
• Indian katha
• Pig and poultry fat
• Bovine, sheep, goat fats
• Lard stearin, lard oil, tallow oil
• Fish and marine mammal oils
• Wool grease, lanolin
• Other animal fats and oils
• Hydrogenated animal or microbial fats and oils
• Margarine, Linoxyn
• Chemically modified fats and oils (inedible)
• Glycerol (crude)
• Vegetable waxes, beeswax, spermaceti
• Degras and residues of wax/fats
• Sausages and similar meat products
• Preserved meat and fish
• Extracts and juices of meat, fish, crustaceans
• Refined sugar (flavoured, coloured, cubes)
• Other sugars, syrups, caramel
• Sugar confectionery
• Cocoa butter, fat, oil
• Cocoa powder
• Chocolates
• Malt extract, food preparations
• Pasta, noodles, couscous
• Pastry, cakes, biscuits, and other bakers’ wares, communion wafers
• Corn flakes, bulgar wheat, FRK
• Cakes, biscuits, pastries (not bread/roti)
• Extruded savoury products
• Vegetables preserved in vinegar or acids
• Tomato and mushroom preserves
• Jams, jellies, marmalades
• Coconut water (packaged)
• Coffee, tea extracts, chicory
• Yeasts, baking powders
• Sauces, condiments, seasonings
• Soups and broths
• Ice cream, edible ice
• Texturised vegetable proteins (soya bari), bari made of pulses including mungodi and batters
• Namkeens, bhujia, mixtures (packaged)
• Diabetic foods
• Drinking water (20L bottles)
• Waters (mineral, aerated, unflavoured, no added sugar)
• Plant-based milk drinks
• Soya milk drinks
• Fruit pulp or fruit juice-based drinks (non-carbonated)
• Beverages containing milk
• Marble and travertine blocks
• Granite blocks
• Anaesthetics
• Potassium Iodate
• Steam
• Iodine
• Medical grade oxygen
• Sulphuric acid
• Nitric acid
• Ammonia
• Medicinal grade hydrogen peroxide
• Micronutrients under Fertilizer Control Order 1985
• Gibberellic acid
• Natural menthol
• All other drugs and medicines (including Fluticasone Furoate + Umeclidinium + Vilanterol, Brentuximab Vedotin, Ocrelizumab, Pertuzumab, Pertuzumab + Trastuzumab, Faricimab)
• Glands and other therapeutic organs/substances
• Animal blood, antisera, toxins, cultures, immunological products
• Medicaments (multi-ingredient, Ayurvedic, Unani, Siddha, homoeopathic, Bio-chemic)
• Medicaments (packaged for retail sale, including transdermal systems)
• Wadding, gauze, bandages, dressings, plasters
• Pharmaceutical goods (catgut, sutures, adhesives, laminaria tents, haemostatics, adhesion barriers, sterile pharma items except contraceptives)
• Talcum powder, face powder
• Hair oil, shampoo
• Dental floss, toothpaste
• Tooth powder
• Shaving cream, shaving lotion, aftershave
• Toilet Soap (bars, cakes, moulded pieces or shapes)
• Handcrafted candles
• Bio-pesticides (Bacillus thuringiensis, Trichoderma, Pseudomonas fluorescens, neem-based, etc.)
• Silicon wafers
• All diagnostic kits and reagents
• Feeding bottles, plastic beads
• Latex rubber thread
• Rear tractor tyres and tubes
• Tractor tyres and tubes
• Nipples of feeding bottles
• Surgical rubber gloves/medical examination gloves
• Rubber bands
• Leather (bovine, sheep, lamb, other animals, further prepared)
• Chamois, patent, metallised leather
• Composition leather and leather waste
• Handicraft handbags, pouches, purses, jewellery boxes
• Handbags and shopping bags (cotton, jute)
• Gloves specially designed for sports
• Idols of wood, stone (including marble), metals (not precious)
• Boards made of cement, jute, rice husk, gypsum, sisal, bagasse, cotton stalks, agri-residues
• Hoopwood, split poles, stakes, wooden sticks for handles/umbrellas
• Wood wool, wood flour
• Railway or tramway sleepers (wood)
• Sheets for veneering, plywood, match splints (≤6 mm thick)
• Bamboo flooring
• Handicraft wooden frames for paintings, mirrors, photos
• Packing cases, boxes, drums, pallets, collars (wood)
• Tools, handles, lasts, trees (wood)
• Bamboo wood building joinery
• Tableware and kitchenware of wood
• Wood marquetry, inlaid, jewellery/cutlery caskets, ornaments, wooden furniture articles (non-Chapter 94)
• Handicraft wood ornaments, marquetry, lacquer work (lathe, ambadi, sisal craft)
• Other wood articles (hangers, spools, bobbins, paddles, decorative items, parts of tableware)
• Natural cork (blocks, sheets, strips)
• Articles of natural cork (corks, stoppers, shuttlecock bottoms)
• Handicraft artware of cork (sholapith items)
• Agglomerated cork and articles
• Paper Sacks/Bags and biodegradable bags
• Carpets and other textile floor coverings, knotted
• Handmade/hand embroidered shawls
• Hats (knitted/crocheted)
• Umbrellas
• Mathematical boxes, geometry boxes, and colour boxes
• Footwear priced up to ₹2,500
• Bamboo furniture (handicraft)
• Wooden furniture (handicraft, non-chapter 94)
• Metal furniture (handicraft, decorative, not mass-produced)
• Plastic moulded furniture (handmade/handicraft, woven chairs, stools)
• Cane and rattan furniture
• Bamboo, cane, wooden handicraft items (tables, racks, almirahs, stools, partitions, cradles, swings, baby chairs)
• Pottery and clay handicraft (kulhads, matkas, diyas, terracotta)
• Ceramic tableware, kitchenware (handmade, decorative)
• Ceramic statuettes and other ornamental ceramic articles
• Ceramic building bricks, blocks, tiles (handmade)
• Earthenware (unglazed) handicraft items
• Glass beads, imitation pearls (handmade)
• Glassware of a kind used in households, decoration, indoor ornaments
• Mirror work handicrafts (with or without frames)
• Stained glass handicrafts
• Utensils of aluminium, copper, brass, bronze (traditional Indian)
• Steel utensils (patila, belan, lota, handi, etc.)
• Handicraft metal tableware, kitchenware, pooja items
• Copper handicrafts (bottles, glasses, trays, decorative artware)
• Brass handicrafts (urli, lamps, decorative diyas, bells)
• Iron and steel handicraft items (lanterns, stands, decorative hangings)
• Musical instruments (tabla, mridangam, veena, sitar, flute, shehnai, dholak, etc.)
• Traditional handloom-made or handicraft toys (wooden, cloth, clay, metal)
• Dolls and puppet handicrafts
• Educational toys (non-electronic, handmade)
• Handicraft games and puzzles (wood, clay, metal, cloth)
• Sewing machines
• Contact lenses, spectacle lenses, spectacles
• Toys like tricycles, scooters, pedal cars, dolls
• Playing cards, chess board, carom board, and other board games (excluding video game consoles and machines)
• Tooth brushes, including dental-plate brushes
• Napkins
• Antiques of an age exceeding 100 years
• Electric vehicles (2W, 3W, 4W)
• Cycles

Items with GST Rate Revised to 18%

• Cement (Portland, aluminous, slag, super sulphate, etc.)
• Coal, briquettes, solid fuels from coal
• Lignite (excluding jet)
• Peat (including peat litter)
• Menthol derivatives (DTMO, DMO, peppermint oil, spearmint oil, etc. from natural menthol)
• Biodiesel (other than supply to OMCs for blending)
• New pneumatic tyres (other than cycles/aircraft/tractor rear)
• Television sets (all sizes)
• Air-conditioners
• Dishwashers
• Refrigerators
• Washing machines
• Vacuum cleaners
• Microwave ovens
• Electric cooking appliances (induction cookers, rice cookers, heaters)
• Food grinders, mixers, juicers
• Hair dryers, hair straighteners, electric shavers
• Electric irons
• Lighting fittings and fixtures (decorative, household, commercial)
• Motorcycles up to 350cc
• Scooters and mopeds
• Three-wheelers (autos, e-rickshaws)
• Cars (small and mid-size)
• Ambulances
• Buses and trucks
• Tyres, tractor parts, and other auto parts (from 18–28% to 5–18%)

Items with GST Rate Revised to 40%

• Pan masala
• All flavoured or sweetened waters (including aerated waters)
• Other non-alcoholic beverages
• Carbonated fruit beverages
• Caffeinated beverages
• Unmanufactured tobacco, tobacco refuse (other than leaves)
• Cigars, cheroots, cigarillos, cigarettes
• Other manufactured tobacco & substitutes
• Tobacco/nicotine products for inhalation (without combustion)
• Motorcycles above 350cc
• Aircraft (private jets, business aircraft, helicopters)
• Yachts and pleasure vessels
• Revolvers and pistols

GST Rates Calculation 

Once a business is registered under GST, it is mandatory to raise an invoice specifying GST percentage and the tax amount, every time when they issue an invoice. The GST amount is derived from the sales price and GST percentage to be levied on the given product or service. For example if the price of the goods/services is Rs. 1000 and applicable GST percentage is 18% then the GST amount would be Rs. 180. And the total invoice amount would be Rs. 1180. 

If you are facing any difficulty in calculating GST manually, you use our latest GST Calculator for automatic calculation.

Summing Up!

FAQs on GST Rates 

1. What is the rate of GST on bread?

Since bread is considered as an essential commodity, it comes under zero-rated supply under GST i.e. 0% tax.  

2. What is zero rated supply in GST? ​

Zero rated supply is a term used for commodities that attracts 0% GST. 

3. What is NIL rated supply in GST?

NIL Rated supply means the commodity/service is ‘exempted’ from GST. In other words, it attracts 0% GST. 

4. What is the GST tax rate on essential commodities​? 

Essential commodities such as unpacked or unbranded flour, food grains are exempted from GST i.e. 0% GST. However, branded or pre-packed essential commodities attract 5% tax under GST. 

5. How are the GST rates decided​? 

On a regular basis, the GST Council’s members meeting takes place where GST is reviewed, keeping in mind the needs of the consumer and the industry. 

6. What is the GST rate on mobile phones​? 

GST charged on smartphones in India is 18%. 

7. What is the rate of GST on Gold?​

In India, 3% GST is levied on Gold purchase.

About the author