About Chapter 37
Chapter 37 of the Harmonized System of Nomenclature (HSN) is titled “Photographic or cinematographic goods”. 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 34 (soap, organic surface-active agents, washing preparations), Chapter 35 (albuminoidal substances; modified starches; glues; enzymes), Chapter 36 (explosives; pyrotechnic products; matches; pyrophoric alloys) and Chapter 38 (miscellaneous chemical products).
The chapter is divided into 7 headings, from 3701 (photographic plates and film in the flat, sensitised, unexposed) to 3707 (chemical preparations for photographic uses). The headings with the most codes that people search for are cinematographic film, exposed and developed (3706) and chemical preparations for photographic uses (3707).
Note 1 keeps waste and scrap out of the chapter, and Note 2 defines “photographic” as the process by which visible images are formed, directly or indirectly, by the action of light or other radiation on photosensitive surfaces.
Every heading is listed below. Under each are the codes that have their own page on Laabam One, 2 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 37: 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 37, DGCI&S (title, headings and notes); Notification No. 78/2020 – Central Tax (HSN digits on invoices).