GST reform effective Nov 1 eliminates 12% and 28% slabs and introduces new 40% slab for luxury linked categories

India’s tax structure underwent a major reform shift beginning Nov 1 as the government removed the 12% and 28% GST slabs and introduced a new 40% GST slab for luxury and sin goods. The restructuring is aimed at simplification, easier compliance, improved revenue efficiency and convergence toward sustainable tax architecture alignment. Economists said this creates a cleaner mid-to-high tiered tax logic path. Businesses will now focus on transition impact mapping across pricing chains, category margin resets, warehousing contract realignment and channel negotiation benchmarks as this GST upgrade pushes policy system normalization across indirect tax governance.