About Chapter 34
Chapter 34 of the Harmonized System of Nomenclature (HSN) is titled “Soap, organic surface-active agents, washing preparations, lubricating preparations, artificial waxes, prepared waxes, polishing or scouring preparations, candles and similar articles, modelling pastes, ‘dental waxes’ and dental preparations with a basis of plaster”. It is part of Section VI, Chemical Products, together with Chapter 28 (inorganic chemicals), Chapter 29 (organic chemicals), Chapter 30 (pharmaceutical products), Chapter 31 (fertilisers), Chapter 32 (tanning or dyeing extracts; tannins and their derivatives), Chapter 33 (essential oils, perfumes, cosmetics), Chapter 35 (albuminoidal substances; modified starches; glues; enzymes), Chapter 36 (explosives; pyrotechnic products; matches; pyrophoric alloys), Chapter 37 (photographic or cinematographic goods) and Chapter 38 (miscellaneous chemical products).
The chapter is divided into 7 headings, from 3401 (soap, organic surface-active products and preparations for use as soap) to 3407 (modelling pastes). The headings with the most codes that people search for are soap, organic surface-active products and preparations for use as soap (3401), organic surface-active agents, surface-active preparations (3402) and candles, tapers and the like (3406).
Note 1 sends shampoos, dentifrices, shaving creams and bath preparations that contain soap to headings 3305 to 3307, and Note 2 limits “soap” in heading 3401 to soap soluble in water.
Every heading is listed below. Under each are the codes that have their own page on Laabam One, 8 codes in this chapter, each with its full classification: its chapter, heading and sub-heading, and the codes beside it.
Every code in this chapter begins with 34: four digits make a heading, six a sub-heading, and eight a tariff item of India's Customs Tariff. How many of those digits a GST tax invoice shows depends on the business, not the goods: under Notification No. 78/2020 – Central Tax, from 1 April 2021, four digits where aggregate turnover in the previous financial year was up to ₹5 crore, and six above it. Up to ₹5 crore, the code may be left off invoices to unregistered buyers.
No GST rate is shown here. GST rates were revised in September 2025, and a rate appears on this site only once it has been checked against the CBIC rate notifications.
Sources: ITC(HS) Chapter 34, DGCI&S (title, headings and notes); Notification No. 78/2020 – Central Tax (HSN digits on invoices).