The GST Council, in its 23rd meeting held on 10 November 2017 at Guwahati, approved sweeping changes to GST rates on goods and services with the objective of providing broad-based relief to consumers, simplifying the rate structure, and addressing concerns raised by trade and industry. One of the most significant decisions was the pruning of items taxed at the highest GST rate of 28 percent, reducing the list from 224 tariff headings to just 50, with a large number of consumer goods, household items, construction materials, electrical goods, furniture, cosmetics, industrial machinery, and food products being shifted to the 18 percent slab. Further rationalisation included rate reductions from 18 percent to 12 percent, 18 percent to 5 percent, and 12 percent to 5 percent on several essential and mass-consumption items such as food products, agricultural inputs, footwear and leather goods, coir and jute products, fly ash bricks, fishing nets, and traditional sweets. Certain items were fully exempted from GST, while selective exemptions from IGST were approved for lifesaving medicines, research equipment, sports goods imported by eminent sportspersons, and goods temporarily imported under ATA Carnet. On the services side, the Council approved a simplified and uniform tax regime for restaurants, taxing most stand-alone restaurants at 5 percent without input tax credit, while also providing relief to aviation, handicraft, tourism, and cultural sectors. Several clarifications were issued to reduce disputes on classification, valuation, and taxability, including treatment of inter-State movement of tools and equipment, agricultural produce, intellectual property, insurance services, and processed food items. These recommendations were to be implemented through notifications effective from mid-November 2017, marking one of the most comprehensive GST rate rationalisation exercises since the rollout of GST.