HSN Codes and GST Rates for Hardware, Paint, Sanitary and Electrical Shops

A hardware shop has the messiest item master in Indian retail. A single bill can carry a bag of cement, twenty feet of PVC pipe, a litre of enamel paint, a box of screws, a modular switch and a wash basin. Those six lines sit in six different HSN chapters at two or three different GST rates, and none of them share a supplier invoice format either.

That is why the HSN code for hardware items is not one code. It is a set of chapters you need to know once, tag onto your products once, and then stop thinking about. This guide walks through the chapters a hardware, paint, sanitary and electrical shop actually sells from, and the rates that usually attach to them.

Why mixed-catalogue shops get HSN wrong

Three things go wrong repeatedly in this vertical:

• Coding by department, not by product. Shop owners tag everything in the plumbing rack to one pipe code. But a PVC pipe, a brass tap and a ceramic basin are chapters 39, 84 and 69 respectively.
• Copying the code off the purchase invoice blindly. Your supplier may be selling a different grade or a different composition of the same-looking item.
• Leaving loose hardware uncoded. Nails, screws, hinges and handles are low value per line, so they get skipped, and then the HSN-wise summary in GSTR-1 will not tally against your total turnover.

Building materials

Paint, putty and finishing goods

Plumbing and sanitary

Hardware, tools and fasteners

Chapter 82 is the one people mean when they search for the HSN code for hardware items in the narrow sense: hand tools and cutlery of base metal. Note the split at the top of it, because agricultural implements sit at a lower rate than workshop tools that look almost identical on the rack.

Electrical goods

Getting the codes into your billing, once

1. Take stock by chapter, not by aisle. Walk the shop with the tables above and group every SKU under a chapter heading first.
2. Set the HSN on the item master, not on the invoice. Tagging it per bill is where wrong codes creep in. Set it once per product and every future bill inherits it.
3. Fix your digit length. Turnover up to 5 crore reports 4 digits on B2B invoices; above 5 crore reports 6 digits. Use the longer code if your supplier gave you one, because you can always report fewer digits than you store.
4. Check the rate on the GST portal before you trust a number. The 2025 rate rationalisation collapsed a lot of the old 12% and 28% lines into 18%, and cement and paint both moved. Rates in this guide are the common position, not a substitute for the portal.
5. Reconcile monthly. Pull the HSN-wise summary and confirm the taxable value across all codes equals your total outward supply. A mismatch usually means a few items are still uncoded.

Once the item master is clean, a billing system that carries the HSN and rate through to the invoice and the GSTR-1 summary removes the whole problem from your month end. The work is in the one-time tagging, not in the filing.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the HSN code for hardware items?

There is no single code. Hand tools sit in chapter 82, fasteners like nails and screws in 7317 and 7318, door fittings and locks in 8301 and 8302, and power tools in 8467. If a customer or an auditor asks for one code for the whole shop, the honest answer is that a hardware shop legitimately reports across six to eight chapters.

Do cement and paint still attract 28% GST?

No. Both cement under 2523 and paints and varnishes under 3208 and 3209 were moved out of the 28% slab in the 2025 rate rationalisation and now commonly attract 18%. If your billing software still carries 28% on these items from an old setup, correct the rate in the item master before your next bill.

Are PVC pipes and conduit pipes the same HSN code?

Yes in most cases. Both fall under 3917 as tubes, pipes and fittings of plastics, whether they carry water or electrical wiring. The material decides the chapter here, not the use, so a metal conduit would move to a chapter 73 heading instead.

How many digits of HSN do I need on a hardware shop invoice?

Four digits if your aggregate annual turnover is up to 5 crore, six digits if it is above that. B2C invoices for small taxpayers are more relaxed, but there is no downside to storing the full six or eight digit code in your item master and letting the software print what is required.

What happens if I use the wrong HSN code?

The immediate risk is a wrong tax rate, since rate follows classification. A wrong code at the right rate is a compliance defect that shows up as a mismatch in the HSN-wise summary of GSTR-1 and can attract a penalty. Either way it is cheaper to fix the item master than to correct it invoice by invoice later.