GST Rate List 2026
Every tariff heading grouped by slab under GST 2.0 — 0%, 5%, 18% and 40%, plus 3% on precious metals and 0.25% on rough diamonds. Download the full list, or read the slab summary below.
| Slab | What sits here |
|---|---|
| 0% — exempt | Unbranded food grains, fresh fruit and vegetables, milk, salt, most healthcare and education. No credit on inputs used for these. |
| 0.25% | Rough diamonds and similar precious stones. |
| 3% | Gold, silver, platinum and articles of precious metal. |
| 5% | The largest slab after GST 2.0 — most packaged food, essentials and mass-consumption goods. Many former 12% items landed here. |
| 18% | The standard slab — most manufactured goods, electronics, industrial items and the majority of services. Most former 28% items landed here. |
| 40% | The GST 2.0 demerit slab — sin and luxury goods, replacing 28% plus compensation cess for those items. |
| Outside GST | Alcoholic liquor for human consumption, petrol, diesel, ATF, natural gas and crude. Taxed by the states, not by GST at all. |
Know the product but not the code? Search by name instead.
HSN code lookupWhat Changed Under GST 2.0
The restructuring effective 22 September 2025 collapsed a four-slab system into essentially three. The 12% and 28% slabs were largely emptied: most 12% items moved down to 5%, most 28% items moved down to 18%, and the sin and luxury goods that had sat at 28% plus compensation cess moved to a single 40% rate instead.
That is why an old bill and a new bill can show the same product at different rates, and why any rate list published before September 2025 is now actively misleading. If you are reconciling invoices that straddle the cutover, GST 2.0 on your invoice walks through reading an archive without second-guessing every line.
Two Things Most Rate Lists Don't Tell You
Not every rate is notified. The notification does not name all 21,703 tariff codes individually. Where a code is listed, its rate is exact. Where it is not, the rate has to be inherited from the parent heading or the chapter. That inheritance is usually right and is how classification works — but it is an inference, and lists that present all rates identically hide which is which. Ours marks the difference on every row.
Some headings contain sub-codes at different rates. Twenty of them do. Heading 2202 covers both 5% and 40% items; 2207 spans 5% and 18%. Picking one rate for the whole heading — which most published lists quietly do — is wrong for half the goods under it. Those headings are flagged varies in the list and collected in their own section, because for them the 8-digit code decides the rate, not the heading.
Alcohol and Fuel Are Not "Zero Rated"
Beer, wine and spirits for human consumption are outside GST entirely under Article 366(12A) of the Constitution. So are petrol, diesel, ATF, natural gas and crude oil, which remain outside GST until the Council brings them in. These are taxed by state excise and state VAT at rates each state sets itself.
That is not the same as exempt. Exempt means inside GST at a nil rate; outside GST means the tax does not apply at all, and no input tax credit chain exists for it. Plenty of rate lists show alcohol at 0% alongside milk and salt, which reads as though the two are treated alike. They are not, and the difference matters if you supply to or buy from that trade.
Finding the Rate for One Specific Product
This list is organised by slab, which answers "what sits at 18%". If your question is the other way round — "what rate applies to this" — use the HSN code lookup and type the product name. It searches 21,703 codes by description, so "laptop", "rice" or "cement" gets you to the code and rate in one step. For an 8-digit item, always trust the 8-digit rate over the heading.
Once you have the rate, the GST calculator splits it into CGST/SGST or IGST, and the reverse calculator pulls it back out of a tax-inclusive total.
Where the Numbers Come From
Rates follow CBIC Notification 9/2025-Central Tax (Rate), issued 17 September 2025 and effective 22 September 2025. The tariff codes come from a public dataset which we clean before publishing — withdrawn entries, blank descriptions and codes we could not stand behind are removed rather than passed through. The PDF's front matter lists the known limitations in full, including that service SAC codes are not covered.
If you spot something wrong, tell us at [email protected] and we will fix the list. A published rate list with a correction path is more useful than one that pretends to be perfect.
Related Tools & Guides
- HSN Code List & Lookup — search 21,703 codes by product name or code
- GST Calculator — apply a rate with the CGST/SGST/IGST split
- Reverse GST Calculator — extract the tax from an inclusive total
- GST Invoice Format in Excel — put the rate on a compliant invoice
- GST 2.0 on Your Invoice — why the same product shows two different rates
Checking rates across a stack of invoices?
Drop the PDFs in and get HSN, rate, taxable value and the CGST/SGST/IGST split in Excel columns — then compare against this list in one pass instead of bill by bill. Free to try, no signup.
Convert to ExcelFrequently Asked Questions
What are the GST rates in India in 2026?
Since GST 2.0 took effect on 22 September 2025 the main slabs for goods are 0% (exempt), 5%, 18% and 40%. The old 12% and 28% slabs were largely emptied — most 12% items moved to 5%, most 28% items to 18%, and sin and luxury goods to the new 40% demerit rate instead of 28% plus cess. Two special rates remain: 3% on gold, silver and platinum, and 0.25% on rough diamonds.
Is there a free GST rate list PDF?
Yes — download it here. Every 4-digit tariff heading sorted into its slab, with a searchable text layer so Ctrl+F finds a heading or product word instantly. An Excel version with an autofilter is also available. Rates follow CBIC Notification 9/2025-Central Tax (Rate), effective 22 September 2025.
Why do some GST rate lists disagree with each other?
Because the notification does not assign a rate to every tariff code individually. Where a code is listed the rate is exact; where it is not, the rate is inherited from the parent heading or chapter — and publishers inherit differently, or silently pick one rate for a heading whose sub-codes actually differ. Our list marks which rates are notified directly and flags the 20 headings whose sub-codes disagree.
What GST rate applies to alcohol?
None. Alcoholic liquor for human consumption is outside GST altogether under Article 366(12A) — it is taxed by state excise and state VAT at rates each state sets. Many lists show beer, wine and spirits at 0% or exempt, which is wrong: exempt means inside GST at a nil rate, while alcohol is not within GST at all. Our list puts these headings in their own "Outside GST" section.
How do I find the GST rate for a specific product?
Search the HSN code lookup by product name — "laptop" or "rice" returns the matching codes with their rates. If you already have the HSN code, look it up directly. This rate list works the other way round: it groups headings by slab, answering "what sits at 18%" rather than "what is the code for this". For an 8-digit tariff item, the specific code decides the rate, not the 4-digit heading.