HSN and SAC code API

Search takes q (at least 2 characters), an optional kind of hsn or sac to narrow to goods or services, and an optional limit. Exact code matches rank first, then descriptions that start with the term, then descriptions that contain it.

The codes are loaded from the HSN/SAC master that the GST portal publishes, and answered from our own copy of it. That makes a lookup fast, and it keeps working when the GST network is slow.

Every response includes a source block with the date the master was last refreshed and the number of codes in it, so you can see how current the data is before you quote a description.

This is deliberate. A GST rate does not depend on the HSN code alone. The same code can attract different rates depending on conditions such as whether the goods are branded, their price, or their end use, and those conditions are set out in rate notifications. The government’s master has no rate column either.

A rate guessed from a code would be wrong often enough to cause a wrong invoice. For rates, read the CBIC rate notifications.

• 1 credit per code lookup that finds the code.
• 1 credit per search, whether or not it finds matches.
• A code that is not in the master, and a malformed request, cost nothing.
• Credits are ₹0.80 down to ₹0.40 each depending on the pack, before 18% GST. The free lookups every account starts with work here too.
• 60 requests a minute per key.