Sept 3 (Reuters) - India's equity benchmarks are likely to open little changed on Wednesday, as investors remain on the sidelines ahead of the meeting of the Goods and Services Tax $(GST)$ Council, which is expected to cut rates on a range of goods.

Gift Nifty futures GIFc1 were trading at 24,635 points as of 07:40 a.m. IST, indicating that the Nifty 50 .NSEI will open around Tuesday's close of 24,579.6.

Meanwhile, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS were up 0.1%. Wall Street began the month sharply lower, while Japan's Nikkei .N225 slid 0.5%, with financials leading declines. MKTS/GLOB

Investors back home will be closely monitoring the tax council's meeting, with the panel expected to lower taxes on several goods and lend a consumption boost to the economy.

A GST rate cut could be a game-changer for consumption-led sectors, Hariprasad K, analyst and founder at Livelong Wealth, said, highlighting the rally in the fast-moving consumer goods stocks in the last three sessions on expectations of lower tax burdens and improved pricing power.

Meanwhile, foreign investors sold Indian shares worth 11.59 billion rupees ($131.6 million), per provisional data, marking their sixth consecutive session of selling in the secondary market.

STOCKS TO WATCH

** India's largest IT firm Tata Consultancy Services TCS.NS bags 550 million euro ($643.89 million) order from Scandinavian insurance firm Tryg TRYG.CO, announcing its first mega deal this fiscal year.

** JSW Cement JSWC.NS reports a more than four-fold jump in core profit, in its first quarterly earnings post listing, helped by higher prices and volumes of construction material.

** Telecom infrastructure provider Indus Towers INUS.NS forays into international market, and says it will leverage its Bharti Airtel BRTI.NS relationship in Africa.

($1 = 88.1550 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Vivek Kumar M; Editing by Sumana Nandy)

((VivekKumar.M@thomsonreuters.com;))