What is the GST rate on 12mm TMT steel rods?

The GST rate on 12mm TMT steel rods is 18%, the same as every other TMT diameter. Diameter does not change the classification: TMT bars sit under HSN 7214 in published rate guides. On a Karnataka invoice for a Karnataka site, the 18% appears as 9% CGST plus 9% SGST on the taxable value.

What is the HSN code for MS angles?

The HSN heading for MS angles is 7216, which covers angles, shapes and sections of iron or non-alloy steel, and published rate guides list MS angles at 18% GST. MS channels and beams fall under the same heading. Ask the supplier to print the full 8-digit code on the invoice to avoid input tax credit mismatches.

Is GST on steel bars 9% or 18%?

GST on steel bars is 18% in total. A steel invoice within one state, such as a Bengaluru supplier delivering to a Karnataka site, splits that 18% into 9% CGST and 9% SGST. An interstate steel invoice shows one 18% IGST line instead. The 9% figure is half of the tax, never the whole.

Can a contractor claim input tax credit on steel for a building project?

A GST-registered contractor billing a taxable works contract can generally claim input tax credit on steel used in that contract. The contractor needs a valid tax invoice under its own GSTIN, the goods delivered, and the invoice showing in GSTR-2B. Contractors under the composition scheme, or working on wholly exempt contracts, cannot claim it.

Can I claim GST input tax credit on steel for my own house?

An owner building a house for personal use generally cannot claim GST input tax credit on steel, because Section 17(5)(d) of the CGST Act blocks credit for construction on one's own account. The GST paid on the steel becomes part of the house's cost. A chartered accountant can confirm how the rule applies to a specific project.

Is it risky to buy steel without a GST bill?

Buying steel without a GST bill carries real costs: a GST-registered buyer cannot claim input tax credit on that purchase, and steel warranty claims usually need the original tax invoice as proof of purchase. One Chennai supplier reports the cash discount is typically 8% to 12%, not 18%, so the saving rarely covers what the buyer gives up.

Did GST on steel change in the September 2025 reform?

GST on common construction steel did not change in the September 2025 reform, according to BUSY's September 2026 rate guide, and TMT bars stayed at 18% with no compensation cess. The reform abolished the 12% and 28% slabs from 22 September 2025, and Fitch Ratings reported cuts on cement and building materials, not steel.

GST on Steel in India: How 18% Applies to TMT Bars and…

By Amrit Steels

October 22, 2026 · 10 min read

A family-run steel business in City Market, Bengaluru, in the trade since 1972, supplying ISI-marked TMT bars and structural steel across Bangalore.

TL;DR: GST on steel in India is generally 18% for construction steel. Published rate guides such as BUSY's September 2026 steel rate guide^[1] classify TMT bars under HSN 7214 and MS angles, channels and sections under HSN 7216. On a Karnataka invoice for a Karnataka site, that 18% appears as 9% CGST plus 9% SGST. A GST-registered contractor billing a taxable works contract can generally claim input tax credit on steel, while an owner building for their own use generally cannot. A cash bill with no GSTIN, HSN code or tax breakdown supports no credit claim, and usually no warranty claim either.

What is the GST rate on steel products in India?

TMT bars are taxed at 18% GST in India, and the same slab covers MS angles, channels, beams and other structural sections. Razorpay's guide to GST on steel^[2] lists TMT bars at 18% and draws on the CBIC rate schedule. Tally Solutions describes the same pattern: most construction steel sits at 18%. A few iron and steel items, such as some raw materials, fall into lower slabs that do not apply to construction steel.

The rate dates from the start of GST. According to IndiaFilings^[3], the GST Council fixed 18% for Chapter 72 iron and steel at its 18 May 2017 meeting, ahead of the 1 July 2017 rollout.

The evidence has one weakness, and a buyer should know it. Every rate table reviewed for this page comes from a tax-software firm, a compliance-services firm or a steel vendor; none of them is a CBIC notification. The steel e-commerce site SteelonCall^[4] heads its rate column "GST Rate Commonly Seen" and notes that some updated lists mention lower slabs for certain steel groups. Treat 18% as the rate the trade invoices at, and check your exact code against the CBIC schedule.

Which HSN codes cover TMT bars, angles, pipes and binding wire?

Steel HSN codes follow the product's form, so there is no single "mild steel" code to quote. Published tables also disagree with each other. One widely copied table lists 7204 as iron and steel bars, while Razorpay and BUSY list 7204 as ferrous waste and scrap and place bars and rods at 7213 to 7215. The second structure matches the Chapter 72 descriptions, and this page follows it.

Pipes need care. BUSY's rate table^[1] lists two pipe headings at 18%, but neither is described as the welded MS pipe used for sheds and railings. Binding wire is not covered by any rate guide reviewed, so this page states no rate for it. For both, read the code and rate from the tax invoice.

Why does the full 8-digit code matter?

A four-digit heading tells you the rate; the eight-digit code is what the GST network matches. SteelonCall recommends printing the full 8-digit HSN code, for example 7214 20 90, on steel invoices to reduce the risk of input tax credit mismatches. BUSY adds that invoices must carry the HSN code and the GST charged once the seller's turnover passes the prescribed limit.

Same rate does not mean no risk. Tally Solutions^[5] warns that even when the rate stays the same, misclassification or reporting errors can cause problems with returns.

How 18% splits into CGST and SGST on a Karnataka steel invoice

Where the supplier and the delivery point are in the same state, the invoice shows 9% CGST and 9% SGST; across state lines, it shows a single 18% IGST line. SteelonCall's rate guide^[4] sets out this split for bars and rods under 7213 to 7215. Amrit Steels supplies Bengaluru, its suburbs and other parts of Karnataka and does no interstate business, so every Amrit Steels invoice to a site carries the CGST and SGST pair.

The worked example below uses a round ₹1,00,000 taxable value purely for arithmetic; it is not a price, and Amrit Steels quotes the day's rate on request.

Start from the taxable value. The taxable value is the price of the steel before GST, written per line against brand, grade, diameter and weight. On our illustration it is ₹1,00,000 for one TMT line.
Apply CGST at 9%. CGST is the central government's half of the tax. On ₹1,00,000 it comes to ₹9,000 and appears as its own line.
Apply SGST at 9%. SGST is Karnataka's half, calculated on the same taxable value. It adds another ₹9,000, which brings the invoice total to ₹1,18,000.
Convert any inclusive quote back. Divide a GST-inclusive figure by 1.18 to find the taxable value, then compare quotes on that basis. The Ministry of Steel's monthly economic report^[6] quotes its Mumbai retail steel price benchmark per tonne including GST, so check whether any per-kg figure you are given includes tax before you compare it.

Did the September 2025 GST reform change the rate on steel?

The September 2025 reform did not change the rate on common construction steel. Fitch Ratings^[7] reported that India abolished the 12% and 28% GST bands from 22 September 2025, moving most products to the 5% and 18% bands. Fitch said GST was cut on cement and building materials, but it did not say steel was among them. BUSY's September 2026 rate guide states that common steel products stayed at 18% after the 22 September 2025 changes and carry no compensation cess.

Comparing the old and new regimes is less tidy, because the estimates of pre-GST tax disagree. Razorpay puts the combined excise duty and VAT on steel before July 2017 at around 17.5%, made up of 12.5% excise and VAT of about 5%. Enterslice^[8] puts the overall figure at about 20%. The gap comes from how each source adds the components, and from state VAT rates that varied, so no single pre-GST number is reliable.

On headline rates, Razorpay notes that rods became slightly costlier under GST, at 18% against roughly 17.5% before. That comparison covers tax rates only, not market prices, and Fitch Ratings has warned more generally that some firms keep GST savings rather than pass them on.

Contractors can usually claim input tax credit on steel, but owners usually cannot

Input tax credit (ITC) is the GST a registered business paid on its purchases, set off against the GST it owes on its own taxable supplies. For steel, the credit depends less on the steel than on who is building and for whom.

Tax practitioners draw the line under Section 17(5)(d) of the CGST Act. DisyTax's explainer on ITC for construction^[9] separates the contractor's position, where ITC on materials is available, from personal residential construction, where it is blocked. In practice, a business building on its own account generally cannot claim ITC on the steel in that building, while a contractor billing a taxable works contract generally can.

The contractor's credit comes with conditions, drawn from practitioner commentary on Sections 16 and 17 of the CGST Act:

Normal registration, not composition. Contractors registered under the composition scheme cannot claim ITC, according to an answer on Quora^[10] that cites those sections. GST paid on steel stays a project cost for them.
A taxable output. When a contract's output is wholly exempt, as some government works are, the GST paid on steel for it usually cannot be claimed. The contractor either absorbs it or negotiates reimbursement into the contract terms.
A clean document trail. The contractor needs a valid tax invoice under its own GSTIN and delivery of the goods. DesiMachines^[11] adds that the invoice must appear in the buyer's GSTR-2B, so a supplier who has not filed leaves the credit waiting.

The evidence here is thinner than the rate evidence: practitioner commentary and a bot-generated forum answer, not the statute itself. Have a chartered accountant read Section 17(5) against your contract before you book the credit.

Buying steel without a GST bill costs more than the cash discount saves

A kachha bill is a handwritten or photocopied receipt with no GSTIN, no HSN code and no tax breakdown, and it is not a GST tax invoice. Suppliable^[12], a construction-materials seller, makes the point bluntly: such a receipt cannot support a tax claim, a warranty filing or an audit defence. Self-described chartered accountants answering on Quora agree on the first consequence: without a tax invoice, there is no input tax credit on that purchase.

The discount is also smaller than buyers expect. Suppliable reports that in Chennai in 2026 the gap between "with bill" and "without bill" prices typically ran 8% to 12%, not the full 18%. That is one supplier's anecdotal figure for one city, and no comparable figure has been published for Bengaluru or Karnataka.

Three further costs fall on the buyer:

No proof for a warranty. Steel warranty claims usually need the original tax invoice as proof of purchase. A site that later finds a problem with a bar has nothing to show the brand.
Credit that never arrives. If a supplier uses a borrowed GSTIN or never reports the invoice in GSTR-1, the credit will not appear in GSTR-2B. The buyer then has a claim that cannot be supported and no proof the purchase happened.
Exposure on large cash deals. Section 269ST of the Income Tax Act penalises a seller who receives more than ₹2 lakh in cash in one transaction. The penalty falls on the seller, but a large cash steel deal puts both sides in a weak position.

No source reviewed for this page sets out a specific GST penalty on a buyer for an unbilled steel purchase, and this page does not claim one. The documented costs are the lost credit and the missing proof of purchase.

How does Amrit Steels bill steel?

Amrit Steels, a family-run wholesale steel dealer in City Market, Bengaluru, has traded since 1972, first as Lal Trading Corporation. On every order, Amrit Steels supplies ISI-marked material only, sends test reports with all TMT, and bills on a tax invoice that names the brand and grade. That holds whether the order is for JSW, SAIL or Vizag Fe 550D or for Kamdhenu, India Gold or President Fe 550. An invoice that names brand and grade matches the bar markings and the test report, which is the fifth of the on-site checks Amrit Steels recommends. It is also the paper trail a contractor needs for credit and an owner needs for a warranty. For how the grades differ, see Fe 500, Fe 550 and Fe 550D TMT bars compared.

FAQ

What is the GST rate on 12mm TMT steel rods?: The GST rate on 12mm TMT steel rods is 18%, the same as every other TMT diameter. Diameter does not change the classification: TMT bars sit under HSN 7214 in published rate guides. On a Karnataka invoice for a Karnataka site, the 18% appears as 9% CGST plus 9% SGST on the taxable value.
What is the HSN code for MS angles?: The HSN heading for MS angles is 7216, which covers angles, shapes and sections of iron or non-alloy steel, and published rate guides list MS angles at 18% GST. MS channels and beams fall under the same heading. Ask the supplier to print the full 8-digit code on the invoice to avoid input tax credit mismatches.
Is GST on steel bars 9% or 18%?: GST on steel bars is 18% in total. A steel invoice within one state, such as a Bengaluru supplier delivering to a Karnataka site, splits that 18% into 9% CGST and 9% SGST. An interstate steel invoice shows one 18% IGST line instead. The 9% figure is half of the tax, never the whole.
Can a contractor claim input tax credit on steel for a building project?: A GST-registered contractor billing a taxable works contract can generally claim input tax credit on steel used in that contract. The contractor needs a valid tax invoice under its own GSTIN, the goods delivered, and the invoice showing in GSTR-2B. Contractors under the composition scheme, or working on wholly exempt contracts, cannot claim it.
Can I claim GST input tax credit on steel for my own house?: An owner building a house for personal use generally cannot claim GST input tax credit on steel, because Section 17(5)(d) of the CGST Act blocks credit for construction on one's own account. The GST paid on the steel becomes part of the house's cost. A chartered accountant can confirm how the rule applies to a specific project.
Is it risky to buy steel without a GST bill?: Buying steel without a GST bill carries real costs: a GST-registered buyer cannot claim input tax credit on that purchase, and steel warranty claims usually need the original tax invoice as proof of purchase. One Chennai supplier reports the cash discount is typically 8% to 12%, not 18%, so the saving rarely covers what the buyer gives up.
Did GST on steel change in the September 2025 reform?: GST on common construction steel did not change in the September 2025 reform, according to BUSY's September 2026 rate guide, and TMT bars stayed at 18% with no compensation cess. The reform abolished the 12% and 28% slabs from 22 September 2025, and Fitch Ratings reported cuts on cement and building materials, not steel.

Sources

Steel New GST Rate 2026: 18% Rate on Steel Bars, Rods & Iron, BUSY ↩
GST on Steel & Iron Bars, Scraps and Other Products in 2026, Razorpay ↩
GST Rate on Iron & Steel - HSN Code & Applicable Rates, IndiaFilings (reporting GST Council recommendations) ↩
TMT Bar GST Rate Guide: Cut Surprises in Your Steel Bills | SteelonCall Blog, SteelonCall (steel e-commerce vendor blog) ↩
GST on Steel & TMT Bars in India: Rates & ITC Guide, Tally Solutions ↩
[PDF] Production and Consumption (April-March) (in Million Tonne), Monthly Economic Report for March 2026 ↩
India’s GST Reforms Generally Positive for Consumption-Focused Issuers, Fitch Ratings ↩
Impact of GST Rate on Iron and Steel: Insights & Analysis - Enterslice, Enterslice ↩
ITC on Construction of Building: Section 17(5) Explained - DisyTax, DisyTax ↩
Will a works contractor get input tax credit for GST paid on materials purchased, such as cement, steel, etc.? - Quora, Quora (AI 'Assistant' bot answer) ↩
GST Input Credit on Construction Equipment: Can You Claim?, DesiMachines ↩
Buying Construction Materials Without a GST Bill — What It Actually Costs You | Suppliable Blog, Suppliable (construction-materials seller) ↩

GST on Steel in India: How 18% Applies to TMT Bars and Shows on Your Invoice