How much GST is charged on audio-video equipment in India?

18%, and it is already included in the price you see on our site: speakers, AVRs, amplifiers, projectors, subwoofers, the lot. Verify the rate at the time you buy, but that is the figure that applies to this category.

Two consequences follow, and both are worth more than the number.

First: a "discount" offered in exchange for skipping the GST invoice is not a discount. It is a missing invoice. Without it you have no proof of purchase the service centre will accept, so your warranty claim gets harder; you have no evidence the unit came through the authorised channel; and if you are a business buyer you have no basis for an input-credit claim. The 18% you think you saved is 18% of your protection you gave away. Sellers who suggest this are usually telling you something about their own tax filing, and it is not something you want to be part of.

Second: if you are a GST-registered business buying for business use, that 18% inside the price may be claimable back as input credit, subject to GST rules and your CA's confirmation. On a modest conference room system that is a few thousand rupees. On a multi-lakh install it changes the real cost substantially, and it is the most overlooked lever in commercial AV buying. Personal home purchases are not eligible, and I would not pretend otherwise.

Does the rate vary between an AVR and a projector? For AV equipment as we sell it, the rate is 18% across the board. If a category ever moves, the invoice will show the applicable rate and we will say so.

Practical advice: take the invoice, always, in the correct name (personal or company GSTIN), and keep it with the serial number noted. It is the one piece of paper that ties the product, the price, the tax and the warranty together. Everything else in the box can be replaced. That cannot.

If it is a business purchase, tell us at order time so the invoice is raised on your GSTIN from the start.