GST on mobile phones in India

Mobile phones are taxed at 18% GST. That is the standard slab, and it applies to the handset itself whatever the brand or price — a ₹8,000 budget phone and a ₹1,50,000 flagship carry the same percentage.

Open the calculator at 18% →

Adding GST to a pre-tax price

If a dealer quotes you an ex-tax figure, the tax is simply 18% of it:

The arithmetic is base × 18 ÷ 100, added to the base.

Pulling GST out of an MRP

This is the calculation most people actually need, and the one most people get wrong.

MRP in India is inclusive of all taxes. So when a phone is listed at ₹23,600, that figure already contains the GST — you do not add 18% on top. To find what the phone costs before tax, divide by 1.18:

₹23,600 ÷ 1.18 = ₹20,000 base price, meaning ₹3,600 of that sticker price is GST.

The common mistake is taking 18% of the MRP instead. That gives ₹4,248, which is too high — because 18% of the inclusive price is not the same as 18% of the base. On a ₹23,600 phone that error is ₹648.

The calculator's Remove GST mode does this for you. Try it with ₹23,600 →

CGST, SGST or IGST — which appears on your bill

The 18% is always 18%. What changes is how it is labelled and split.

• Bought from a shop in your own state: the invoice shows 9% CGST + 9% SGST. On a ₹20,000 phone that is ₹1,800 each.
• Ordered online from a seller in another state: the invoice shows 18% IGST — a single line of ₹3,600.

You pay ₹23,600 either way. The split decides whether the tax goes to the centre and your state jointly, or into the integrated pool that gets apportioned later. This trips people up when they compare an Amazon invoice against a local shop's bill and see different tax lines for the same price.

Accessories are not automatically 18%

The 18% figure is for the phone. Chargers, cases, earphones and screen protectors are classified separately and may not carry the same rate, so a bundled purchase can show more than one tax line on a single invoice. If you are checking an itemised bill, look up each line rather than assuming the handset's rate applies to everything on it.

Related items on the standard slab include laptops and computers, also at 18%, and telecom services at 18% — which is why your phone bill and your phone carry the same rate.

If you are a business

A GST-registered business buying a phone for business use can generally claim input tax credit on the GST paid, which effectively reduces the real cost by the tax amount. The invoice has to carry your GSTIN — a personal-name invoice will not support the claim, and asking the seller to reissue after the fact is often difficult. Phones bought for personal use are not eligible. Confirm your specific position with your accountant.

Frequently asked

Did the September 2025 restructuring change the rate on phones?

Phones sat at 18% before the restructuring and remain at 18% after it. What changed elsewhere was the removal of the 12% and 28% slabs, so rate tables published before September 2025 are unreliable for many other categories even where they happen to be right about phones.

Is GST different for imported phones?

GST applies the same way once the goods are in the domestic market, but imports also attract customs duty at the border, which is a separate levy calculated before GST. A landed-cost calculation for an imported handset is not just 18%, and this page does not cover it.

Is there GST on a used or second-hand phone?

A private sale between two individuals is outside GST. A registered dealer selling second-hand goods is inside it, and may be taxed under a margin scheme rather than on the full sale value. If you are buying refurbished from a dealer, the invoice should make clear what has been taxed.

Before you rely on this

This page is a plain-language reference, not the official schedule. The exact rate on a specific transaction can depend on HSN classification and how the item is packaged or bundled. For filing, invoicing or a disputed bill, confirm against the current CBIC notification or ask a qualified tax professional. If something here looks wrong, tell us.

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