India, Sept. 4 -- A new 40% slab of GST will come into effect on September 22, along with all new rates. The 12% and 28% slabs are gone, and only the 5% and 18% ones from the current four remain.

The 40% slab has mostly high-end non-essentials or luxury goods.

For pan masala, cigarettes, gutka, chewing tobacco, it will not kick in immediately due to some technical reasons regarding pending loans, and a date will come later.

But the other things on this list, which get the new rates on September 22, include aerated waters containing added sugar or flavour (which means most cold drinks), caffeinated beverages and other non-alcoholic beverages will also be in 40% now, meaning a jump of at least 12 percentage points from the now-scrapped 2...