Ceramic and vitrified floor tiles sold in India are certified under IS 15622:2017, BIS's product manual for pressed ceramic tiles, which classifies tiles by water-absorption group, glaze, finish, edge and size — the specification to check against a shop's quote, not just the brand name. A separate standard, IS 4457:2007, covers unglazed acid-resisting tiles for kitchens and utility areas. On GST, the September 2025 reform's official item-by-item rate-change list does not include ceramic or vitrified tiles — meaning no rate cut has been confirmed for them, unlike cement or air conditioners, which were cut from 28% to 18%.
The BIS classification that a tile quote should reference
Under IS 15622:2017, BIS groups pressed ceramic tiles by water absorption — Group B Ia, B Ib, B IIa, B IIb and B III — alongside surface (glazed or unglazed), finish (polished, semi-polished or unpolished), edge finish (rectified or unrectified) and size (modular or non-modular). Lower water-absorption groups are the denser, more vitrified tiles suited to high-traffic or outdoor-adjacent floors; higher-absorption groups are more porous. A shop quoting "vitrified" or "ceramic" without a group letter is not giving you a checkable specification — ask for it.
Certification runs under Scheme-I of the BIS (Conformity Assessment) Regulations, 2018, the same licensing regime used across BIS-regulated construction materials, and BIS's standard test batch for licensing and surveillance is 50 tiles for all tests — useful context for why a licensed manufacturer's per-batch testing cost is built into the price of a certified product against an uncertified one.
| Standard | Covers | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| IS 15622:2017 | Pressed ceramic tiles, general classification by water absorption/finish | Living areas, bedrooms, general flooring |
| IS 4457:2007 | Unglazed vitreous acid-resisting ceramic tiles | Kitchens, utility areas, chemical/industrial-type flooring |
Both administered by BIS under Scheme-I of the BIS (Conformity Assessment) Regulations, 2018.
GST on tiles after the September 2025 reform — what changed and what did not
The 56th GST Council meeting produced a rate-rationalisation reform effective from Notification No. 9/2025-Central Tax (Rate), dated 17 September 2025, which the Department of Consumer Affairs' own FAQ confirms supersedes the earlier Notification No. 1/2017-Central Tax (Rate). The official PIB annexure of the 56th Council meeting lists cement cut from 28% to 18% and room air conditioners cut from 28% to 18% — but a full-text search of that same annexure for "ceramic," "vitrified" and "tile" finds no matching line item. That absence is the finding: this registry has no positive confirmation of a GST cut on ceramic or vitrified floor/wall tiles, so none is claimed on this page, and any claim elsewhere of a "GST cut on tiles" from the 2025 reform should not be trusted without its own citation.
A related, separate finding from the same reform: a second Consumer Affairs FAQ confirms bricks (other than sand-lime bricks) kept their existing special composition-scheme rate — 6% without input tax credit or 12% with it — unchanged by the 2025 reform, with only sand-lime bricks cut from 12% to 5%. That is a different material to tiles, but it shows the reform was selective rather than an across-the-board construction-materials cut, which is the same pattern the tile evidence points to.
What to put in writing beyond the per-sq-ft rate
- ·The IS 15622 water-absorption group letter for the tile being quoted, not just "vitrified" or "ceramic" as a category name.
- ·Whether the tile is rectified (machine-cut, tighter grout lines) or unrectified, since that affects both look and the labour time for a large-format lay.
- ·The HSN code and GST rate printed on the invoice itself — since this registry could not confirm a rate change for tiles from the 2025 reform, the safest approach is to have the shop state their applicable rate in writing rather than assume a cut that has not been verified anywhere.
Methodology
BIS classification and certification-scheme details are taken directly from the IS 15622:2017 and IS 4457:2007 product-manual PDFs, which do not state rupee figures. The tiles/paint GST finding is a negative result — an absence of a line item in the official 56th GST Council annexure — cross-checked against the notification numbers and brick-specific mechanics in the Department of Consumer Affairs' two published FAQs.
Sources
- Bureau of Indian Standards — Product Manual, IS 15622:2017, Pressed Ceramic Tiles — accessed 2026-09-21
- Bureau of Indian Standards — Product Manual, IS 4457:2007, Ceramic Unglazed Vitreous Acid Resisting Tiles — accessed 2026-09-21
- Press Information Bureau — Recommendations of the 56th GST Council Meeting — accessed 2026-09-21
- Department of Consumer Affairs — Frequently Asked Questions – 3 (GST rate rationalisation, Sept 2025) — accessed 2026-09-21
- Department of Consumer Affairs — Frequently Asked Questions – 2 (GST rate rationalisation, Sept 2025) — accessed 2026-09-21