Intermediary services in India were taxable locally, so export treatment, zero-rating, and input tax refund were denied.

Services performed in India that facilitated a foreign entity's engagement with an Indian client were treated as intermediary services because the arrangement involved three parties and the supplier coordinated the supply between them. As intermediary services, the place of supply was the supplier's location under the IGST Act, so the services were taxable in India. They therefore did not qualify as export of services or zero-rated supply, and refund of unutilized input tax credit was not allowable.

---

---

Issues: Whether the services of sales and marketing consulting and manpower or HR consulting supplied to the foreign entity constituted export of services or intermediary services, and whether the appellant was entitled to zero-rating and refund of unutilized input tax credit.

Analysis: The agreement and surrounding facts showed that the appellant performed on-the-ground market services in India, coordinated with the local client's team, and rendered services in connection with the foreign entity's engagement with an Indian client. The Authority found that the arrangement involved three parties and that the appellant facilitated the supply of services between the foreign entity and the Indian client, which brought the activity within the definition of intermediary services under Section 2(13) of the Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. For intermediary services, the place of supply is the location of the supplier under Section 13(8)(b) of the Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. On that basis, the services were treated as taxable in India and not as export of services under Section 2(6), so the conditions for zero-rating and refund of unutilized input tax credit were not satisfied.

Conclusion: The services were correctly classified as intermediary services taxable in India, and they did not qualify as export of services or zero-rated supply; refund of unutilized input tax credit was not allowable.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the contractual arrangement shows that a supplier facilitates the foreign client's services to an Indian client and the activity is performed in India, the supply is intermediary service with the place of supply at the supplier's location and cannot be treated as export of services.

---