FITPASS Writes to the Finance Minister to keep Fitness Services at 5% Instead of 18%

Amidst the ongoing discussions around the GST on goods and services, FITPASS, an app-based wellbeing and engagement platform, has written to the Finance Minister to keep the GST at 5% for fitness services instead of 18%.

In a letter that Local Samosa has accessed, the brand has highlighted India’s health sector. “By reducing GST to 5%, fitness becomes 13% cheaper instantly, expanding access to millions, supporting India’s fight against non-communicable diseases by encouraging preventive action,” Akshay Verma, co-founder of FITPASS, says.

Junk food vs fitness items

The brand, which has consistently engaged with the Finance Ministry on this issue and has pushed for GST reforms twice before—reducing the rate from 28% to 18% —has once again become vocal about the new reforms announced on August 15.

FITPASS has written individual letters to 43 ministers and senior government representatives, and their team has consistently engaged with officials at every level, from junior officers to senior policymakers, even in the past.

Talking to Local Samosa, Mr. Verma shares the reasons behind the letter. “India is facing an unprecedented public health emergency. Over 101 million Indians live with diabetes, preventable lifestyle diseases cause 315 million with hypertension, and 63% of all deaths. This epidemic cuts across income groups, and prevention is always cheaper than a cure.”

In furtherance of his thoughts, he compares the GST on junk food with that on fitness products. “Packaged and processed junk foods that fuel obesity and diabetes are taxed at just 5%, while structured fitness - gym memberships, yoga centres, coaching, nutrition counselling, is taxed at 18%, lumped with spas and salons as ‘luxury’ personal care,” he says in while adding that this not only makes prevention unaffordable in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities, especially for women and youth, but also undermines India’s public health priorities and economic productivity.

Reiterating what the Prime Minister himself said from the Red Fort, the co-founder says, “He has declared fitness a national imperative, urging citizens to ‘declare independence from obesity’. His repeated calls, through the Fit India Movement, Khelo India, and Eat Right India, reinforce the message that fitness is not an exclusive privilege but a shared national necessity, vital for every citizen regardless of income or background.”

With such a base, the brand has proposed the idea and mentioned some numbers that might add some weight to the arguments. He cites Dalberg, according to which, this shift could add ₹15 lakh crore annually to GDP while averting 110 million NCD cases. “We are not asking for subsidies. We are asking for coherence. Curative healthcare (hospitals, doctors, diagnostics) is GST-exempt because it is essential. Prevention deserves the same recognition,” the co-founder adds.

For pushing the fitness to be reclassified as preventive healthcare under SAC 9993 and taxed at 5% with ITC, Mr. Verma states that he is “confident fitness will finally be recognised in policy “as what it truly is: India’s most scalable and affordable form of preventive medicine.