GST Rates: Colas At 40%, Refrigerators At 28%, Namkeen At 12% And Condoms For Nothing

A shopper walks through an aisle displaying personal care goods. (Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg)

43 days before India aims to implement the Goods and Services Tax (GST), the indirect tax department released the rate schedule for 1,211 goods. The list, approved by the GST Council includes most goods except textiles, footwear, biscuits and a few others. Rates for those and all services is likely to be finalised on Friday, the second day of the GST Council meeting underway in Srinagar.

While the rate schedule makes for complex reading, it lists goods in all their avatars - from iron pellets to rods, consumers will be keen to know what rates apply to everyday items.

So here goes....from milk, butter, ghee to artificial fur items, video game consoles, coronary stents, artificial kidneys and of course, refrigerators and motor cars, we've covered it all.

Nil or 0 Percent

Fresh milk
Fresh fruits
Cereals
Puffed rice, papad, bread
Aquatic/poultry/cattle feed
Salt
Human blood
Contraceptives
Condoms
Firewood
Printed books
Bangles (non-precious metals)
Agricultural implements

5 Percent

Branded paneer
Frozen vegetables
Coffee, tea
Branded cereals
Soyabean, groundnut, sunflower seeds
Vegetable fats & oils
Beet sugar, cane sugar
Cocoa beans, shells, paste
Bakery mixes, doughs, pizza bread, vermicelli, rusks
Sweetmeats
All ores and concentrates
Coal
Lignite
Peat
Tar
Kerosene PDS
LPG for domestic consumption by IOC, HPCL, BPCL
Nuclear fuel
Nuclear grade sodium
Heavy water and other nuclear fuels
Compressed air
Animal or human blood vaccines: 5%
Diagnostic kits for detection of all types of hepatitis
Desferrioxamine injection or deferiprone
Cyclosporin
Medicaments (including veterinary medicaments) used in bio-chemic systems and not bearing a brand name
Oral re-hydration salts
Drugs or medicines including their salts and esters and diagnostic test kits, specified in list 3 or list 4 appended to the notification no.12/2012- customs, dated the 17th March, 2012, dated the 17th March, 2012
Formulations manufactured from the bulk drugs specified in list 1 of notification no.12/2012-central excise, dated the 17th March, 2012, dated the 17th March, 2012
Handmade safety matches
Newsprint
Sand lime bricks, fly ash bricks
Steel utensils
Geometry boxes
Iron/ steel/ ferrous alloy - kerosene burners and stoves
Iron/ steel/ ferrous alloy - table or kitchen or other household articles
Copper utensils
Table or kitchen or other household articles of copper
Hand pumps
Solar water heater
Renewable energy devices
Boats, fishing vehicles
Coronary stents
Artificial kidneys
Broomsticks, jhadoo

12 Percent

Frozen meat
Butter, ghee, cheese
Dry fruits
Meats and fish preparations
Fruits and vegetable juices
Ready to eat namkeen/bhujiya
Milk beverages
Bio-gas
Medicinal grade hydrogen peroxide
Anaesthetics
Potassium iodate
Iodine
Steam
Glands and other organs for organo-therapeutic uses
Ayurvaedic, Unani, Homoeopathic siddha or Biochemic systems medicaments, put up for retail sale
Sterile suture materials
Sterile catgut
Sterile suture material
Sterile dental yarns
Sterile tissue adhesives for surgical wound closure
Dental haemostatics
Fertilisers
Fountain pen ink, ball pen ink
Tooth powder
Agarbatti
Candles
Silicon wafers
Natural cork
Wood pulp
Children's drawing books
Calendars
Ceramic tableware, kitchenware, toilet articles
Lenses used in spectacles
Barbed wire of iron and steel
Screw, bolts, nuts
Sewing/knitting needles
LPG stoves
Aluminium utensils
Pencil sharpeners, knives
Power driven water pumps
Cellphones
Tractors
Electric vehicles
Bicycles
Spectacle lens
LED lights
Sports goods
Art works
Antiques