A shelf-by-shelf guide to the HSN code for medicine, surgicals, medical devices and wellness products in an Indian pharmacy, with current GST rates and how to set them up once in your item master.
A medical shop carries one of the widest product mixes in Indian retail. A single bill can contain a strip of tablets, a crepe bandage, a digital BP monitor, a tube of toothpaste and a protein powder, and those five lines can sit under four different chapters of the HSN schedule at three different GST rates. Get one of them wrong and it shows up in your GSTR-1 summary, not at the counter.
This guide walks through the HSN code for medicine and the rest of a pharmacy's stock the way it actually sits on your shelves, so you can set each rate once in your item master and stop thinking about it.
Almost everything a pharmacist dispenses falls in Chapter 30, "Pharmaceutical products". The two headings that matter most:
In practice, when someone asks for the HSN code for medicine, the answer is usually 3004 at 4 digits, with the 6 or 8 digit sub-heading depending on the drug class.
| Product | HSN | Typical GST |
|---|---|---|
| Allopathic tablets, capsules, syrups, injections | 3004 | 5% |
| Insulin | 3004 31 | 5% |
| Antibiotics in retail packs | 3004 20 | 5% |
| Ayurvedic, Unani, Siddha and homoeopathic medicaments | 3003 / 3004 | 5% |
| Vaccines, blood products, antisera | 3002 | 5% |
| Specified life-saving and rare-disease drugs | 3004 | Nil |
| Oral rehydration salts (ORS) | 3004 | Nil |
The nil-rated list is a named list of specific drugs, not a category you can judge by eye. If a distributor's invoice shows a drug at nil, match your master to that invoice rather than guessing from the molecule.
This is the shelf where most classification errors happen, because the items look like general merchandise but sit in Chapter 30 or Chapter 40.
| Product | HSN | Typical GST |
|---|---|---|
| Cotton wool, gauze, bandages, crepe bandage | 3005 | 5% |
| Adhesive dressings and first-aid plasters | 3005 10 | 5% |
| Sutures, sterile dressings, surgical absorbables | 3006 | 5% |
| Surgical and examination gloves | 4015 12 | 5% |
| Syringes, needles, cannulas, catheters | 9018 31 / 9018 39 | 5% |
| Face masks | 6307 90 | 5% |
| Contraceptives and condoms | 3006 60 / 4014 | Nil |
Devices sit in Chapter 90, which is instruments and appliances. A few strays live elsewhere, notably wheelchairs.
| Product | HSN | Typical GST |
|---|---|---|
| BP monitors, stethoscopes, nebulisers | 9018 | 5% |
| Glucometers and test strips | 9027 | 5% |
| Clinical and digital thermometers | 9025 11 | 5% |
| Pulse oximeters | 9018 19 | 5% |
| Crutches, braces, orthopaedic and hearing appliances | 9021 | 5% |
| Oxygen therapy and ozone apparatus | 9019 20 | 5% |
| Wheelchairs, manual or powered | 8713 | 5% |
| Corrective spectacles and reading glasses | 9004 90 | 5% |
| Diagnostic kits and lab reagents | 3822 | 5% |
The front of a pharmacy is effectively a kirana shelf, and it does not inherit the medicine rate. These are the lines that quietly break a return.
The rate rationalisation that took effect on 22 September 2025 moved most medicines and medical devices from 12% down to 5%, and pulled several everyday items such as toothpaste and soap down from 18%. If your item master was built before that date and has never been reviewed, you are very likely still billing some lines at the old slab. Pull a rate-wise sales summary for one month and look for any 12% rows. In a pharmacy today, a 12% line is almost always a stale master entry.
HSN codes are stable for years. Rates are not. Treat the codes above as the durable part and confirm the rate on the GST portal's HSN search before a big master update.
Most retail medicines fall under HSN 3004, which covers medicaments put up in measured doses or in packings for retail sale. Bulk mixed preparations that are not in measured doses fall under 3003. The 6 and 8 digit extensions then identify the drug class, such as 3004 31 for insulin or 3004 20 for other antibiotic preparations.
No. Most medicines are at 5%, a specified list of life-saving and rare-disease drugs is nil rated, and some products a pharmacy sells are not medicines at all in GST terms. Hand sanitiser, food supplements and cosmetics are taxed at 18% despite sitting on the same shelf.
They use the same Chapter 30 headings, 3003 and 3004, with sub-headings that identify the system of medicine. The rate is generally the same 5% as allopathic medicaments. Ayurvedic items sold as cosmetics or as food supplements, such as a herbal face pack or a chyawanprash marketed as a food product, are classified by what they are, not by the brand.
It depends on your annual turnover, not on your trade. Smaller businesses report 4 digits and larger ones 6 digits on B2B invoices, with 8 digits required for certain notified goods and exports. Set the digit length once in your item master so every invoice is consistent.
An incorrect code with the correct rate is a reporting mismatch that shows up in GSTR-1 and may draw a notice. An incorrect code that also carries the wrong rate means you have under or over collected tax, which has to be corrected and settled. Fixing the master is far cheaper than fixing a year of invoices.
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