The AAAR held that the appellant's sales, marketing and HR...

The AAAR held that the appellant's sales, marketing and HR consulting services were intermediary services under Section 2(13), because the agreement involved three parties and the appellant was facilitating supply by the foreign entity to the Indian client. As intermediary services, the place of supply was in India, so the services were taxable at 18% IGST and did not qualify as export of services or zero-rated supply. On that basis, the claim for refund of unutilized input tax credit failed because the statutory foundation for refund was absent. The advance ruling was upheld and the appeal dismissed.

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