Revised GST Rates From 18 July: What Gets Costlier? What's Cheaper?

The changes in GST rates will come to effect from 18 July. Here's all you need to know.

After its 47th meeting, the Goods and Service Tax (GST) Council on 29 June decided to increase the tax rates on certain goods and services, while withdrawing exemptions on certain items. The changes in tax rates will come to effect from Monday, 18 July.

What will get costlier? Which items attract fresh tax rate? And, what will get cheaper?

Here's all you need to know.

Exempted Items That Will Now Attract GST

• Packaged food: Pre-packed curd, lassi, and buttermilk will now attract GST.

• Hotel rooms: Those rooms priced at Rs 1,000 or less per day, which are not taxed at present, will attract 12 percent GST.

• Cheque books: 18 percent GST will be levied on bank cheque books

• Printed Maps: Hydrographic or similar charts of all kinds, including atlases, wall maps, topographical plans and globes, will attract 18 percent GST

• Post office services will now be taxed. An exception, however, has been provided for postcards and inland letters, book posts, and envelopes weighing less than 10 gm.

What Will Get Costlier?

• Led lights and lamps: Prices of LED lights and lamps, fixtures, and their metal printed circuit boards will surge from 12 percent to 18 percent GST.

• Printing, writing, and drawing ink: These rates are also set to increase as 18 percent GST will be levied as against current 12 percent

• Knives: The prices of knives along with cutting blades, paper knives, pencil sharpeners and blades, spoons, forks, ladles, skimmers, cake-servers, etc, is also going to go up from 12 percent to 18 percent.

• Machines for cleaning, sorting, or grading seeds and grain pulses, machinery used in the milling industry or for the processing of cereals, etc, pawan chakki or air-based atta chakki, and wet grinders will now attract 18 percent GST as opposed to the current 5 percent.

Besides machines used for cleaning, sorting, and grading eggs, fruit, or other agricultural produce, milking machines and dairy machinery will also cost more as their GST is being spiked from 12 percent to 18 percent.

Items That Will Get Cheaper?

• Ropeway rides: The GST Council has brought down the tax on ropeway rides from 18 percent to 5 percent.

• Rent of goods carriage: The renting of trucks or goods carriages when cost of fuel is included, is set to become cheaper as its GST is set to go down from 18 percent to 12 percent.

• Ostomy appliances: GST for these appliances are set to reduce from 12 percent to 5 percent.

• Orthopaedic appliances: Items like splints and other fracture appliances; artificial parts of the body; other appliances which are worn or carried or implanted in the body to compensate for a defect or disability; and intraocular lens will become cheaper as their GST is set to drop from 12 percent to 5 percent.

• Defence Items: IGST on specified defence items imported by private entities/vendors, when the end-user is the defence forces, has been exempted.