18% GST on alcohol-based sanitizers

New Delhi : Months after sanitizers became a daily use product due to ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the Authority for Advance Ruling (AAR) has announced that a GST of 18 per cent will be levied on all alcohol-based hand sanitisers. The ruling came over a petition filed by a Goa-based sanitizer manufacturer.

Springfield India Distilleries had reached the Goa-bench of AAR to get clarity on classification of hand sanitisers supplied by it and to know whether these sanitisers would be exempt from GST as the Consumer Affairs Ministry had classified hand sanitisers as an essential commodity.

The Authority said, "It is of the opinion that hand sanitizers manufactured by the applicant are of the category of Alcohol-based sanitisers and are classifiable under heading 3808 of HSN to which rate of GST applicable is 18 per cent."

The ministry of consumers had called sanitizers an essential commodity but GST exempted products are mentioned in a different list.

Health authorities worldwide have been recommending the use of alcohol-based hand sanitizers, containing at least 60 per cent alcohol, to keep the dreaded Covid19 virus at bay in the absence of any vaccine till date.