Export refund under service tax exemption cannot be denied for lack of one-to-one correlation or prior service use.

Refund of service tax under Notification No. 41/2007-ST could not be denied merely because the input services were availed before export or because no one-to-one correlation with exports was shown. The notification was construed as an export incentive intended to support exports, and a technical objection could not defeat the substantive relief where export was the assessee's sole activity and there were no domestic clearances. As the notification did not require a direct matching between each input service and each export, the assessee remained entitled to refund.

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Issues: Whether refund of service tax paid on exempted services under Notification No. 41/2007-ST could be denied merely because the services were availed before export and no one-to-one correlation with exports was shown.

Analysis: The notification was intended to grant export-linked relief and its object was to support exports. Denial of refund on a technical ground would defeat that purpose, particularly where export was the assessee's sole activity and no domestic clearances were made. The notification did not prescribe a one-to-one relationship between the input services and the exports. The procedural objection could not override the substantive entitlement flowing from the exemption scheme.

Conclusion: The refund could not be refused on the ground that the services were availed prior to export or for want of one-to-one correlation; the assessee was entitled to refund.

Ratio Decidendi: Where an exemption notification is framed to promote exports and does not require one-to-one correlation between input services and exports, refund cannot be denied on a mere technicality that would frustrate the export incentive.

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