New Delhi: The GST Council on Saturday exempted sanitary napkins from the ambit of the goods and services tax, conceding a year-long demand.

It also reduced the tax on about 50 articles, including washing machines, refrigerators, perfume, handicrafts and small television sets, which are all set to get cheaper.

"We have decided to implement these changes for the welfare of the middle classes and small businesses and traders. Besides revenue collection, the GST Council will now focus on job creation as well," finance minister Piyush Goyal said.

Consumer activists and women's groups had long been protesting the 12 per cent GST on sanitary napkins.

Many handicraft articles such as stone, marble and wooden deities, rakhis without precious stones, brooms and commemorative coins have also been fully exempted from the GST, Goyal said, as has been fortified milk.

The biggest rate cuts have come in white goods. The GST has been cut from 28 per cent to 18 per cent on goods such as refrigerators, lithium batteries, vacuum cleaners, grinders, mixers, food processors, water heaters, hair dryers, water coolers, ice cream freezers, perfume, powder puffs, cosmetics and electric ironing machines.

A similar reduction in duty on TV sets up to 26 inches will increase the demand from the rural areas, said Mahesh Sharma, president, Consumer Electronics and Appliances Manufacturers Association.

"The rate reductions on the eve of the festival season should lead to an expansion of volumes, which could make up for the lower taxes," said M.S. Mani, partner, Deloitte India. The new rates are to be implemented from July 27.

Analysts welcomed the decision to charge GST on the basis of the actual hotel tariff (charged after discounts if, say, rooms are booked through a travel agent) and not the declared tariff (rack rate).