GST on Spices and Masala: Mirch, Haldi, Jeera HSN and Rate

Updated 28 October 2026 · By Ashok Sachdev · Sources: Notification 9/2025-Central Tax (Rate) and 10/2025-Central Tax (Rate); PIB release on the 56th GST Council meeting. Not tax advice; confirm with your CA.

This catches shop owners who learnt the rule for dal, atta and rice. Those are nil-rated when loose and 5% only when pre-packaged and labelled. Spices have no such loose exemption. A kilo of lal mirch powder weighed out from a sack carries the same 5% as a branded packet. The rate is simple. What goes wrong on bills is the HSN code, the nil exceptions and old 12% settings left on masala items.

In short

• Single spices, dried or ground: 5%, loose or packed.
• Blended masala: 5% under 2103, which went down from 12% on 22 September 2025.
• Fresh green chilli, fresh ginger, fresh turmeric: nil (0%).
• Loose dal and rice are nil, but loose spices are not. This is the single biggest source of wrong bills.

HSN code and GST rate for common spices

The rate is split as 2.5% CGST + 2.5% SGST inside your state, or 5% IGST for an inter-state sale. The single-spice pages are on red chilli, haldi and masala.

Single spice or masala: which HSN?

This is where the HSN code decides your item list, even though the rate is the same.

• A single ground spice stays in its own heading. Coriander powder is 0909, red chilli powder is 0904 and haldi powder is 0910. Do not move them to 2103 just because they are powders.
• A blend goes to 2103. The entry reads "mixed condiments and mixed seasonings", so garam masala, chole masala, pav bhaji masala and chaat masala are 2103.
• Chilli sauce and pickles are not chilli. Chilli-garlic sauce is a sauce (2103). Do not code it as 0904. For pickles, check the HSN your supplier prints.
• Kasuri methi is usually dried vegetable leaf (0712) and may be nil when not further prepared. Confirm with the supplier's invoice before you set the rate.

The traps shopkeepers fall into

1. Treating loose spices as exempt

The nil rate for loose goods applies to specific items in Notification 10/2025-Central Tax (Rate), such as cereals, pulses and flour. Dried turmeric, chilli and the other spices above are in the 5% schedule with no loose exemption.

2. Charging 5% on green chilli and fresh ginger

"Mirch" on a billing screen can mean the dried spice or the vegetable. Fresh green chilli is a vegetable at nil. Fresh ginger and fresh turmeric are nil when not processed. Keep separate items.

3. Leaving masala at 12%

If your masala items were created before 22 September 2025, check them. Mixed masalas were at 12% and are now 5%. Charging 12% means your customer overpays and your invoice is wrong.

4. Mixing spice and non-spice in a gift pack

A festive box with spices, dry fruit and a steel container is not a plain spice sale. Under Section 8 of the CGST Act, a mixed supply can be taxed at the highest rate in the pack. Ask your CA before selling such combos, and bill the items separately when the customer picks them one by one.

Worked bill (EXAMPLE figures)

A customer in the same state buys the following at a kirana counter. Prices are before GST.

The invoice total is ₹695, with ₹12.50 CGST and ₹12.50 SGST on the taxable lines. The loose dal and green chilli are nil, but the loose chilli powder is not. A shop that treated all "loose" lines as nil would under-charge ₹20 on this bill. Over a month, that sort of error shows up as a tax shortfall during a notice or at the CA's review. For a longer list of kirana items and loose-versus-packed rules, read the kirana item list with GST rates.

What to put on the invoice

• Print the HSN against every line. For B2B invoices, Notification 78/2020-Central Tax sets 4 digits up to ₹5 crore turnover and 6 digits above that. Ask your CA about B2C bills.
• If the entire bill is nil-rated (only green chillies and loose dal, for example), issue a bill of supply, not a tax invoice. See bill of supply vs tax invoice.
• Keep loose and packed versions of the same spice as separate items only if you need to track stock separately, since they carry the same rate.

To check an item not listed here, use the HSN and GST rate finder.

How RichPOS helps a spice or kirana shop

In RichPOS, you save the HSN code and GST rate against each item, such as 0904 at 5% for chilli powder and 0709 at 0% for green chilli. Every bill then applies the saved rate and shows the tax on the invoice. RichPOS does not choose the HSN for you, so enter the code from the table above or your supplier's invoice. See features and pricing.

RichPOS is free for 30 days, then ₹99/month for the first 3 months, then ₹199/month or ₹1,999/year. No GST is added to these prices.

Rates checked on 28 October 2026 against Notification 9/2025-Central Tax (Rate) (5% schedule), Notification 10/2025-Central Tax (Rate) (nil rate), both dated 17 September 2025 and in force 22 September 2025, and PIB, 56th GST Council, Annexure I. General information, not tax advice. Branded spice mixes with other ingredients and pickles need your supplier's HSN or your CA's view.