Furniture, kitchen and confectionery items among 178 goods become cheaper after big GST cut

New Delhi: The GST Council on Friday decided to reduce tax rate on a wide range of mass use items - from chewing gums to detergents -- to 18 per cent from current 28 per cent, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi said.

The all-powerful Council pruned the list of items attracting the top 28 per cent tax rate to just 50 from 227 previously, Modi told reporters here.

In effect, the Council, in its 23rd meet on Friday, cut rates on 178 goods.

Facing intense heat from opposition-ruled states over keeping mass used goods in the 28 per cent bracket which was meant for luxury and de-merit goods, the Council pruned the list to 50 as against 62 that was recommended by its fitment committee.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi  hailed the recommendations made by the GST Council and said that it will further benefit the people and strengthen the tax regime.

Modi also said public participation was at the core of the government's functioning and that all its decisions were "people-friendly and people-centric".

"The recommendations made by the GST Council today will further benefit our citizens and add strength to the GST. These recommendations are in the spirit of the continuous feedback we are getting from various stakeholders on GST," he tweeted.

India Inc. on Friday welcomed the decision of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council to reduce rates on 178 items of mass consumption and extension of tax filing timelines.

Industry body Assocham's Secretary General DS Rawat said that the "big changes in the GST rates" will lead to a pickup in consumer demand and significantly revive the business sentiment.

"The increase in the composition scheme threshold would make life much easier for the small business entities," Rawat said.

However, on a sector-specific basis, S Chouksey, President, Cement Manufacturers' Association, pointed out that the industry finds itself retained in the 28 percent GST bracket, along with luxury items such as washing machines and air conditioners. 

"This is a disappointment for the entire industry as cement is integral to the government's key schemes such as 'Housing for All', 'Swachch Bharat' and building of other infrastructure projects that are fundamental for building an India for the future," Chouksey said.

On the overall impact of Friday's decision, Mahesh Jaising, Partner, Deloitte India, said: "The reduction in GST rates should reduce the burden on the common man. Hopefully, this is the start of the changes which are eagerly anticipated from the 23rd GST Council meeting."

Benchmarks Sensex and Nifty overcame a spell of fag-end volatility to close with moderate gains today as investor sentiment got a lift after the GST Council reduced tax rates on a wide range of mass use items.

The 30-share Sensex, after a hesitant start at 33,235.75, rebounded to the day's high of 33,380.42 in the late afternoon trade, but lost some ground to end at 33,314.56., up 63.63 points, or 0.19 percent, from its previous close.

The broader Nifty, after moving between 10,254.10 and 10,344.95, finally concluded 12.80 points, or 0.12 percent, higher at 10,321.75.

List of items to become cheaper

• All type of chewing gums
• Chocolates
• Facial make-up kit
• Shaving and after-shave products
• Shampoo
• Detergents and washing powder
• Granite and Marble
• Shoe polish
• Confectionery
• Hair Oil
• Nutrition drinks
• Baking powder
• Wire, cables, insulated conductors, electrical insulators, electrical plugs, switches, sockets, fuses, relays, electrical connectors
• Electrical boards, panels, consoles, cabinets etc for electric control or distribution
• Particle/fibre boards and ply wood. Article of wood, wooden frame, paving block
• Furniture, mattress, bedding and similar furnishing
• Trunk, suitcase, vanity cases, brief cases, travelling bags and other hand bags, cases
• Detergents, washing and cleaning preparations
• Liquid or cream for washing the skin
• Hair cream, Hair dyes (natural, herbal or synthetic) and similar other goods; henna powder or paste, not mixed with any other ingredient
• Personal deodorants, bath preparations, perfumery, cosmetic or toilet preparations, room deodorisers
• Perfumes and toilet waters
• Beauty or make-up preparations
• Fans, pumps, compressors
• Lamp and light fitting
• Primary cell and primary batteries
• Sanitary ware and parts thereof of all kind
• Articles of plastic, floor covering, baths, shower, sinks, washbasins, seats, sanitary ware of plastic
• Slabs of marbles and granite
• Goods of marble and granite such as tiles
• Ceramic tiles of all kinds
• Miscellaneous articles such as vacuum flasks, lighters,
• Wrist watches, clocks, watch movement, watch cases, straps, parts
• Article of apparel & clothing accessories of leather, guts, furskin, artificial fur and other articles such as saddlery and harness for any animal
• Articles of cutlery, stoves, cookers and similar non electric domestic appliances
• Razor and razor blades
• Multi-functional printers, cartridges
• Office or desk equipment
• Door, windows and frames of aluminium
• Articles of plaster such as board, sheet
• Articles of cement or concrete or stone and artificial stone
• Articles of asphalt or slate
• Articles of mica
• Ceramic flooring blocks, pipes, conduit, pipe fitting
• Wall paper and wall covering
• Glass of all kinds and articles thereof such as mirror, safety glass, sheets, glassware
• Electrical, electronic weighing machinery
• Fire extinguishers and fire extinguishing charge
• Fork lifts, lifting and handling equipment,
• Bull dozers, excavators, loaders, road rollers,
• Earth moving and levelling machinery,
• Escalators
• Cooling towers, pressure vessels, reactors
• Crankshaft for sewing machine, tailor’s dummies, bearing housings, gears and gearing; ball or roller screws; gaskets
• Electrical apparatus for radio and television broadcasting
• Sound recording or reproducing apparatus
• Signalling, safety or traffic control equipment for transports
• Physical exercise equipment, festival and carnival equipment, swings, shooting galleries, roundabouts, gymnastic and athletic equipment
• All musical instruments and their parts
• Artificial flowers, foliage and artificial fruits
• Explosive, anti-knocking preparation, fireworks
• Cocoa butter, fat, oil powder,
• Extract, essence ad concentrates of coffee, miscellaneous food preparations
• Chocolates, Chewing gum / bubble gum
• Malt extract and food preparations of flour, groats, meal, starch or malt extract
• Waffles and wafers coated with chocolate or containing chocolate
• Rubber tubes and miscellaneous articles of rubber
• Goggles, binoculars, telescope,
• Cinematographic cameras and projectors, image projector,
• Microscope, specified laboratory equipment, specified scientific equipment such as for meteorology, hydrology, oceanography, geology
• Solvent, thinners, hydraulic fluids, anti-freezing preparation
• Wet grinders consisting of stone as grinder
• Tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles
• Refined sugar and sugar cubes
• Pasta
• Curry paste, mayonnaise and salad dressings, mixed condiments and mixed seasoning
• Diabetic food
• Medicinal grade oxygen
• Printing ink
• Hand bags and shopping bags of jute and cotton
• Hats (knitted or crocheted)
• Parts of specified agricultural, horticultural, forestry, harvesting or threshing machinery
• Specified parts of sewing machine
• Spectacles frames
• Furniture wholly made of bamboo or cane
• Puffed rice chikki, peanut chikki, sesame chikki, revdi, tilrevdi, khaza, kazuali, groundnut sweets gatta, kuliya
• Flour of potatoes put up in unit container bearing a brand name
• Chutney powder
• Fly ash
• Sulphur recovered in refining of crude
• Fly ash aggregate with 90% or more fly ash content
• Desiccated coconut
• Narrow woven fabric including cotton newar [with no refund of unutilised input tax credit]
• Idli, dosa batter
• Finished leather, chamois and composition leather
• Coir cordage and ropes, jute twine, coir products
• Fishing net and fishing hooks
• Worn clothing
• Fly ash brick
• Guar meal
• Hop cone (other than grounded, powdered or in pellet form)
• Certain dried vegetables such as sweet potatoes, maniac
• Unworked coconut shell
• Fish frozen or dried (not put up in unit container bearing a brand name)
• Khandsari sugar