Cenvat refund eligibility for product support services upheld where India use was not established on the record.

Refund of unutilized Cenvat credit under Notification No. 5/2006-C.E. (N.T.) was held admissible where the claim related to product support services under the agreement. The invoices described the consideration as product support service fee, and the agreement used a worldwide territory; the record did not support reading the territory as limited to India. Although the services were provided from India, that fact alone did not establish that the services were used in India so as to deny refund. The rejection was therefore unsustainable, and refund with consequential relief followed.

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Issues: Whether refund of unutilized Cenvat credit under Notification No. 5/2006-C.E. (N.T.) was admissible when the services were alleged to have been provided and used in India.

Analysis: The refund claim was relatable to product support services under the relevant agreement. The invoices referred to the product support service fee and the agreement itself described the territory as worldwide. The inference that the territory meant the region of India was unsupported by the agreement and by the material on record. The services were being provided from India, but that by itself did not establish that the services were used in India so as to deny refund.

Conclusion: The rejection of refund was unsustainable and the assessee was entitled to refund with consequential relief.

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