GST on restaurant food and food delivery
Updated 11 October 2026
Most restaurants, air-conditioned or not, charge 5% GST on food and drinks served (2.5% CGST plus 2.5% SGST) and cannot claim input tax credit. Restaurants inside hotels where a room was sold for more than ₹7,500 a night charge 18% with credit. On food delivery apps, the app collects the 5% on the food, and its own fees carry 18%.
Restaurant GST rates at a glance
| Where you eat or order | GST | Input tax credit for the restaurant |
|---|---|---|
| Standalone restaurant, dhaba, cafe or food court, AC or non-AC | 5% | No |
| Takeaway and parcels from these restaurants | 5% | No |
| Cloud kitchens | 5% | No |
| Restaurant in a hotel that is a "specified premises" (any room above ₹7,500 a night) | 18% | Yes |
| Restaurant in a hotel where no room crosses ₹7,500 a night | 5% | No |
| Outdoor catering at weddings and events, outside specified premises | 5% | No |
| Food ordered through a delivery app | 5%, paid by the app | No |
| Alcohol served with the meal | No GST (state VAT and excise apply) | Not applicable |
The ₹7,500 hotel test
A hotel counts as a "specified premises" for a financial year if any of its rooms was supplied at a value above ₹7,500 per unit per day in the previous financial year, or if the hotel opts in by a declaration filed between 1 January and 31 March. This test, based on actual room prices rather than a published tariff, has applied since 1 April 2025. Restaurants in such hotels charge 18% and claim credit on their costs. The GST Council clarified in September 2025 that a standalone restaurant cannot declare itself a specified premises in order to charge 18%.
Food delivery apps
Since 1 January 2022, the delivery app, not the restaurant, collects and pays the 5% GST on food ordered through it. An app bill usually has three parts that carry GST:
- Food: 5%, collected by the app on the restaurant's behalf.
- Platform fee: the app's own service, at 18%.
- Delivery fee: since 22 September 2025, the app pays 18% on local delivery by delivery partners who are not GST-registered, and usually passes it on. On 8 October 2026 the GST Council recommended cutting this to 5% without input tax credit. That applies only after it is notified, so check the breakdown on your bill.
Service charge and other extras
A service charge is not a tax. Under the Central Consumer Protection Authority's 2022 guidelines, which the Delhi High Court upheld in March 2025, a restaurant cannot add it automatically or make you pay it, and you can ask for it to be removed. If you choose to pay it, GST applies to it at the same rate as the food. Packaged items sold at their printed price, such as bottled drinks, are goods and carry their own rates (see GST on everyday items).
Small restaurants under the composition scheme
A restaurant with turnover up to ₹1.5 crore can opt for the composition scheme and pay 5% of its turnover itself. Such a restaurant must not add GST to your bill: it issues a bill of supply and must state that it is a composition taxable person. A restaurant that serves alcohol cannot use the scheme, because alcohol is outside GST. The composition scheme guide has the details.
How to check a restaurant bill
- If GST is charged, the restaurant's GSTIN must be printed on the bill.
- A standalone restaurant should show CGST 2.5% and SGST 2.5%, not 9% and 9%.
- 18% is correct only in a qualifying hotel restaurant.
- You can check a GSTIN, and whether the business is a composition dealer, with "Search Taxpayer" on the GST portal.
Standalone restaurant: 5% GST is ₹60 (CGST ₹30 + SGST ₹30), so the bill is ₹1,260.
Five-star hotel restaurant that is a specified premises: 18% GST is ₹216 (CGST ₹108 + SGST ₹108), so the bill is ₹1,416.
App order with food worth ₹500: food ₹500 + GST ₹25, platform fee ₹10 + GST ₹1.80, delivery fee ₹40 + GST ₹7.20, a total of ₹584. If the recommended 5% rate on delivery is notified, the delivery GST would fall to ₹2 and the total to ₹578.80.
To check a bill quickly, the GST calculator adds or removes 5% or 18% from any amount.