The 56th GST Council Meeting, chaired by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in New Delhi on 3 September 2025, approved sweeping rate rationalisation reforms to benefit the common man, farmers, labour-intensive industries, and the health sector.
🔑 Key Decisions:
- Tax Slabs Reduced → Four GST slabs merged into two by scrapping 12% & 28%, retaining 5% & 18%.
- Insurance → All individual life & health insurance policies exempted from GST, including family floaters & senior citizen policies.
- Medicines →
- 33 life-saving drugs: GST reduced from 12% → NIL.
- 3 cancer & rare disease drugs: GST reduced from 5% → NIL.
- Other medicines: 12% → 5%.
- Medical devices & apparatus: 18% → 5%.
- Daily-use items → Hair oil, soap, shampoos, toothpaste, bicycles, kitchenware, etc. → 5% GST only.
- Food items → Namkeen, noodles, chocolates, sauces, pasta, ghee, butter, coffee, etc. → 12%/18% → 5%.
- Milk (UHT), paneer, chena, Indian breads → 0% GST.
- Consumer durables → ACs, TVs, dishwashers, small cars & motorcycles → 28% → 18%.
- Agriculture → All farm equipment → 12% → 5%.
Financial Impact: Revenue loss of ₹48,000 crore, but deemed fiscally sustainable.
Meeting Participation: Attended by Union Ministers, State CMs, Deputy CMs, Governors & Finance Ministers from across India.
