GST Rate on Namkeen reduced to 12%:

GST Rate on Namkeen reduced to 12% The 54th GST Council was held in New Delhi on September 9th, chaired by Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman. Union Minister of State for Finance Shri Pankaj Chaudhary, Chief Ministers of Goa and Meghalaya, Deputy Chief Ministers of Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, and Telangana, as well as Finance Ministers of States and UTs (with legislature) and senior officers of the Ministry of Finance and States/UTs, attended the meeting.

Reduction in GST Rates on Namkeens and Extruded/Expanded Savoury Food Products

The GST rate of extruded or expanded products, savoury or salted (other than unfried or un-cooked snack pellets, by whatever name called, manufactured through the process of extrusion), falling under HS 1905 90 30 to be reduced from 18% to 12% at par with namkeens, bhujia, mixture, chabena (pre-packaged and labelled) and similar edible preparations in ready for consumption form which are classifiable under HS 2106 90.

Item	Previous GST Rate	New GST Rate
Extruded/expanded savoury food products	18%	12%
Namkeens, bhujia, mixtures	12%	12%

The GST rate of 5% will continue on un-fried or un-cooked snack pellets, by whatever name called, manufactured through the process of extrusion. To also clarify that the reduced GST rate of 12% on extruded or expanded products, savoury or salted (other than un-fried or un-cooked snack pellets, by whatever name called, manufactured through a process of extrusion), falling under HS 1905 90 30 is applicable prospectively. The move signifies uniformity in taxation across different snack items, which fall under similar categories.