<h1>GST Council cuts slabs to 5% and 18% from Sept 22, easing taxes on essentials and select insurance</h1> The GST Council approved a statutory overhaul limiting slabs to 5% and 18%, effective September 22, reducing or eliminating GST on commonly used personal and essential items and on certain insurance products; the regulatory change prompted immediate market reactions, with benchmark indices opening sharply higher but closing with modest gains after intra-day profit-taking. Equity flows showed foreign institutional net selling and domestic institutional net buying. Sectoral impacts included pronounced early gains in autos, FMCG and consumer durables and mixed performance among large-cap conglomerates, utilities and IT firms.