India’s GST Council recommended a zero-GST rate for 33 lifesaving drugs (including cancer therapies) and certain medical equipment, while moving tobacco products to a 40% GST slab.

Hospitals, insurers, and public payers can reprice covered oncology regimens immediately where GST was previously embedded (notably for patented drugs without generic substitutes), lowering out-of-pocket costs for patients. The higher tobacco GST creates a clearer fiscal lever for prevention funding and raises retail prices for tobacco-linked cancer risk products. For AB-PMJAY, the change is modeled to reduce scheme outlays by about $762.5 million, freeing budget capacity for expanded coverage or higher-cost oncology treatments.