Several items are set to get cheaper from Monday and over 50 products will now attract Nil tax as the new tax rates on goods and services (GST) comes into effect from September 22 — the first day of the Navaratri.
On September 3, the GST Council approved a major overhaul in the indirect tax regime by reducing rates on a majority of the goods. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the move will infuse ₹2 lakh crore into the economy, leaving people with more cash in hand that otherwise would have gone as taxes.
The tax on several food items, live-saving medicines, and stationery has been reduced to NIL, directly benefiting consumers and households.
What is getting cheaper?
Here is a list of items that will no longer have GST applied on them, effective September 22, 2025:
- Kitchen staples and bread:
- Ultra-High Temperature (UHT) milk
- Prepackaged and labelled chena or paneer
- All types of Indian breads, including chapati, roti, paratha and parotta
- Pizza bread
- Khakhra
- Life-saving drugs and medicines:
- 33 lifesaving drugs and medicines
- Three medicines used for the treatment of cancer, rare diseases and other severe chronic diseases.
- Stationary items for school and office use:
- Erasers
- Uncoated paper and paperboard used for exercise book
- Notebook, graph book and laboratory book.
- Maps and hydrographic or similar charts of all kinds
- Atlases
- Globes and topographical plans
- Pencil sharpeners
- Pencils, including propelling or sliding pencils.
- Crayons and pastels
- Writing or drawing chalk, tailor’s chalk and chalk sticks
- Drawing charcoals
Why this matters for you?
These GST reductions, if fully passed on to the consumers will directly affect monthly budget of households. The move to NIL GST on essential items means a person will have to pay less for daily goods like food items.
Several companies have already announced price cuts to pass on the benefits to consumers. Amul announced that they have reduced prices of over 700 products, including butter and ice cream, however, their milk price remains unchanged.
Similarly, Mother Dairy has also reduced price of their several products, with cuts ranging from ₹2 to ₹30 based on the product and packaging. The revision applies to milk, butter, paneer and cheese.
