GST Rates In India: What Is The Current Rate And What Changes To Expect From The 2025 GST Council Meeting

GST Rate Slabs In India 2025:  The Goods and Services Tax, which is popularly known as the GST, has been one of the most significant tax changes in India. It was brought into work with an objective of a single tax regime across the nation of billions. GST was established in India in 2017 and has solidified the indirect taxation by removing several state and central taxes. GST Council has revised slabs to adjust to ever-changing economies, inflation, and industry requirements. For consumers, professionals, and businesses, it is important to keep track of the current GST rates, as the new tax slabs will be introduced after the ongoing GST council meeting.   

What Are The Current GST Rates In India? 

GST Rates In 2025:

GST rate list currently comprises these categories: 0%, 5%, 12%, 18%, 28%. 

Category	Old GST Rates	Current GST Rates
Scrap And polyurethanes	5 Percent	18 Percent
Pens	12 Percent	18 Percent
Metal Concentrates And Ores	5 Percent	18 Percent
Recorded Media Reproduction And Print	12 Percent	18 Percent
Packing Containers And Boxes	12 Percent	18 Percent
Certain Renewable Energy Devices	5 Percent	12 Percent
Broadcasting. sound recordings, and licensing	12 Percent	18 Percent
Printed material	12 Percent	18 Percent
Railways Goods and Parts under Chapter 86	12 Percent	18 Percent

Source: Bajaj Finserv

Decrease In The GST Rates:

Category	Old GST Rate	Current GST Rate	Applicability
Vehicles equipped with retrofitting kits for disabled individuals	Not specified	5 Percent	Applies to vehicles modified for use by disabled individuals.
Cancer treatment drug (Keytruda)	12 Percent	5 Percent	Reduced rate for essential cancer treatment drugs
Goods are sold at the Indo-Bangladesh and when you look at tax structures, there is also a cess applied on certain items	Not specified	NIL	IGST is not levied on these goods.

Also Read: GST Council Meeting 2025 Live Updates: Luxury EVs, Tobacco Products, High-End Apparels Likely To See Price Rise

Types Of GST Rates And Structures In India:

GST Rate	Applicable Goods and Services	Why
0 Per Cent	Essential goods like milk, eggs, curd, and educational services.	For affordability and accessibility.
5 Per Cent	Items like coal, edible oils, tea, domestic LPG, and life-saving drugs.	Access to basic necessities.
12 Per Cent	Goods like butter, ghee, computers, fruit juice, and packed coconut water.	Affordability and revenue generation.
18 Per Cent	Products like hair oil, capital goods, toothpaste, industrial intermediaries, and toiletries.	Maintain tax revenue with reasonable consumer prices.
28 Per Cent	High-end items like luxury cars, motorcycles, consumer durables (ACs, fridges) and goods like cigarettes and aerated drinks.	The highest GST rate with additional cess on some items to manage luxury and non-essential goods.

List Of Items With 0 Per Cent GST

Product/Service                 GST Rate

- Milk                                     0%

- Kajal                                     0%

- Eggs                                     0%

- Educational services                     0%

- Curd                                     0%

- Lassi                                     0%

- Health services                     0%

- Children’s drawing

  and colouring books                     0%

- Unpacked foodgrains             0%

- Unbranded atta/maida             0%

- Unpacked paneer                     0%

- Gur (Jaggery)                             0%

- Besan (Gram flour)                     0%

- Unbranded natural honey             0%

- Fresh vegetables                     0%

- Salt                                     0%

- Prasad (Religious offerings)     0%

- Palmyra jaggery                     0%

- Phool bhari jhado

   (Traditional broom)                     0%

List Of Items With 5 Per Cent GST

Sugar

Packed paneer

Tea

Coal

Edible oils

Raisins

Domestic LPG

Roasted coffee beans

PDS kerosene

Skimmed milk powder

Cashew nuts

Footwear (priced below ₹500)

Infant milk food

Apparel (priced below ₹1000)

Fabric

Coir mats

Floor mats and coverings

Agarbatti (Incense sticks)

Indian sweets (Mithai)

Life-saving medicines

Ground coffee (excluding instant coffee)

List Of Items With 12 Per Cent GST

Butter

Ghee

Packaged or processed food items

Almonds

Mobile phones

Fruit juice

Ready-to-eat vegetable preparations

Processed fruits

Pickles, murabba, chutneys, jars, jellies, and similar preserves

Packed coconut water

Umbrellas

List Of Items With 18 Per Cent GST

Hair oil

Capital goods

Toothpaste

Industrial Intermediaries

Soap

Ice cream

Pasta

Toiletries

Corn Flakes

Soups

Printers

Computers

List Of Items With 28 Per Cent GST

Small cars [with an additional 155 or 35 cess)

Premium motorcycles [with an additional 15% cess,

Consumer durables like air conditioners and refrigerators

Luxury and sin goods like luxury cars, like BMW

Cigarettes and carbonated beverages (with an additional 15% ces)

List Of Items With 3 Per Cent GST

Imitation Jewellery

Items made of or coated with precious metals

Natural or cultured pearls (not strung, mounted, or set, temporarily strung for transport)

Worked diamonds, not mounted or set (excluding non-industrial use)

Precious and semi-precious stones (excluding diamonds]

Silver

Gold

waste or scrap of precious metals or metals coated with precious metal

List Of Items With 0.2 Per Cent GST

Non-industrial grade diamonds

Unprocessed precious or semi-precious stones

Synthetic or reconstructed precious or semi-precious stones

 

Source:  Central Board Of Indirect Tax And Customs

Note: This list doesn’t include all the items that are exempt from GST or have lower rates. Some items may also have an extra charge called Cess, along with regular GST rates.

Also Read: GST Cut On Insurance Premiums May Lower Costs, Insurers Brace For Near-Term Impact: Report

What To Expect From The 2025 GST Council Meeting?

The 2025 GST Council meeting is expected to be focused on Next-generation GST reform. Reduction in the tax slabs is expected, which will ease the complexities of GST tax slabs for small and medium-sized companies. Additionally, with inflationary pressures and ease of doing business being the major concerns, the discussions on rate reduction in essentials are also expected, along with expanding the coverage of services under GST, and introducing digital compliance measures to increase transparency.

The current GST rates were crucial to bring a balance between raising revenue for the government and providing relief to consumers in a few developing sectors. As India's economy continues to grow, learning about the present GST structure will help companies and individuals to remain in compliance and make good financial decisions. Additionally, this list of current GST rates in India also helps to differentiate between new and old tax slabs. In short, in a way, GST serves as the key pillar of India's taxation system. Alongside, India’s ever-evolving slabs highlight the Indian government's mindful response in the context of shifting economic landscapes.