TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2026 (2) TMI 582
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....ud or suppression of material facts or misrepresentation of facts, shall render such ruling to be void ab initio in accordance with Section 104 of the Act. 5. The provisions of both the Central Goods and Services Tax Act and the Tamil Nadu Goods and Services Tax Act (herein referred to as the Act) are the same except for certain provisions. Therefore, unless a mention is specifically made to such dissimilar provisions, a reference to the Central Goods and Services Tax Act would also mean a reference to the same provisions under the Tamil Nadu Goods and Services Tax Act. M/s. Flipkart India Private Limited, Survey No. 292-302, 126, 295, Thiruvallur High Road, No. 111, Alamathi 2 Revenue Village, Sholavaram Panchayat Union (hereinafter called as the "Applicant") are registered under the GST Act with GSTIN 33AABCF8078M1Z8 under the goods and services tax Act. They have filed this application for advance ruling under Section 97 of the CGST Act, 2017, and corresponding provisions under the Section 97 of TNGST Act, 2017. The Applicant has made a payment of application fees of Rs. 5,000/- each under sub rule (1) of Rule 104 of CGST Rules, 2017 and TNGST Rules, 2017. The applicant....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....trucks, vans or two-wheelers (or a combination thereto). It is clarified and re-iterated that the services provided by the Applicant under the Proposed Model would be pursuant to TOUs - wherein the Applicant is appointed the Goods Transport Agency ("GTA") for the transportation of goods exclusively by road from the Source Mother Hub to the Delivery Address. 2.2 The consideration for such goods transportation services provided by the Applicant (i.e., transportation charges) would also be paid by the end-customers purchasing goods (i.e., recipients of GTA services). However for the sake of administrative convenience, such consideration may be remitted to the Applicant by the ECO (on behalf of the customers) which in-turn would have collected such consideration from the customers at the time of purchase of goods on its portal (in case payment is made online at the time of purchase of goods) or, may be collected by the Applicant from the customers upon delivery of such goods to such customers (in case payment is made via cash at the time of delivery). The transportation charges would be specifically disclosed in the tax invoice/bill of supply raised by the Applicant on the end-custo....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....ort Agency" ("GTA") has been defined under Paragraph 4(xxxx) of the Rate Notification (Notification No. 11/2017-Central Tax (Rate) dated 28.06.2017) as extracted hereunder: "(xxxx) 'goods transport agency' means: any person who provides service in relation to transport of goods by road and issues consignment note, by whatever name called." A similar definition is also provided under Para 2(ze) of the Exemption Notification. 3.2 The aforesaid definition(s) are similar to the definition under the erstwhile Section 65B(26) of the Finance Act, 1994 ("Finance Act") as extracted hereunder: "(26) "goods transport agency" means any person who provides service in relation to transport of goods by road and issues consignment note, by whatever name called;" The Applicant submits that hence, judicial precedents under the erstwhile Service Tax Regime would be equally relevant and will have persuasive value for the purpose of interpretation of the scope of the entry under the GST law. 3.3 The Applicant submits that the use of the phrase 'in relation to' in the above reproduced definition of GTA under the Rate Notification further extends the scope of the term GTA to....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....oods till its safe delivery to the consignee. It is only the services of such GTA, who assumes agency functions, that is being brought into the GST net. Individual truck/tempo operators who do not issue any consignment note are not covered within the meaning of the term GTA. As a corollary, the services provided by such individual transporters who do not issue a consignment note will be covered by the entry at s.no.18 of notification no. 12/2017-Central Tax (Rate), which is exempt from GST." 3.6 The Applicant submits that in terms of the above-extract, issuance of a Consignment Note would indicate that a lien on the goods has been created in favour of the transporter and such transporter further becomes responsible for any damage occurring to the goods during the course of their transportation until safe delivery to the consignee. While the term "Consignment Note" is not defined under GST law, guidance may be drawn in this regard from Rule 4B of the Service Tax Rules, 1994 which is extracted hereunder: "4B. Issue of Consignment Note Any goods transport agency which provides service in relation to transport of goods by road in a goods carriage shall iss....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....ipso facto, creates such liability and the impugned order is not at fault for having held that tax liability does not arise. 3.9 The Applicant submits that on the basis of the aforesaid, it is evident that (a) if the entire transportation of goods is exclusively by road and (b) the transporter/service provider issues a Consignment Note, then the transportation services provided are GTA services. 3.10 The Applicant submits in re-iteration of the aforesaid that as long as transportation of goods is carried out by it entirely by road pursuant to the issuance of a consignment note, the services to be supplied by it under the Proposed Model are indeed GTA Services. Such conclusion is arrived at a plain and literal construction Para 4(xxxx) of the Rate Notification in consonance with the settled principles of construction as laid out the judgement of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilisers Limited v. Deputy Commissioner of Commercial Taxes and Others [1992 Supp (1) SCC 21], the relevant portion of which is extracted hereunder: "24. [ ... ] The choice between a strict and a liberal construction arises only in case of doubt in regard to the ....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....r vehicles .... .... This service code does not include: o messenger services of bicycle couriers, cf. 996812 o courier delivery services, cf. 996812 o local delivery services, cf. 996813 o armored car services, cf. 998524 99679 Other supporting transport services 996791 Goods transport agency services for road transport This service code includes freight brokerage services; freight forwarding services (primarily transport organization or arrangement services on behalf of the consignor or consignee); freight consolidation and break-bulk services." 3.13 A perusal of the Explanatory Notes would reveal that the transportation may take place through any vehicle and is not solely limited to transportation through trucks. As analysed hereinabove, the services provided by the Applicant are classifiable as "Goods Transport Agency Services". 3.14 Another question that could arise for consideration given the time-sensitive nature of transportation is whether the services provided by the Applicant could be covered under term "courier agency" as defined under Para 2(u) of the Exemption Notification: "courier agency"....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....). 3.18 The Applicant submits that GTA services proposed to be provided by it to unregistered customers/recipients (who order goods from the ECO's portal) are specifically exempt under SI. No. 21A of the Exemption Notification as extracted hereunder: "21A Services provided by a goods transport agency to an unregistered person, including an unregistered casual taxable person, other than the following recipients, namely:- (a) any factory registered under or governed by the Factories Act, 1948(63 of 1948); or (b) any Society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 (21 of 1860) or under any other law for the time being in force in any part of India; or (c) any Co-operative Society established by or under any law for the time being in force; or (d) any body corporate established, by or under any law for the time being in force; or (e) any partnership firm whether registered or not under any law including association of persons; (f) any casual taxable person registered under the Central Goods and Services Tax Act or the Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act or the State Goods and Services Tax Act or the Union Te....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....said Circular dated 11.10.2024 are extracted hereunder: "6. Whether incidental/ ancillary services such as loading/ unloading, packing, unpacking, transshipment, temporary warehousing etc., provided in relation to transportation of goods by road is to be treated as part of Goods Transport Agency service, being composite supply, or these services are to be treated as separate independent supplies: [ ... ] 6.3 After deliberations on the issue and based on recommendations of the 54th GST Council, it is hereby clarified that ancillary or incidental services provided by GTA in the course of transportation of goods by road, such as loading/unloading, packing/unpacking, transshipment, temporary warehousing etc. will be treated as composite supply of transport of goods. The method of invoicing used by GTAs will not generally alter the nature of the composite supply of service." 3.22 The Applicant submits that the services proposed to be supplied by it under the Proposed Model have been squarely classifiable as GTA services in numerous other advance rulings under GST law-as elaborated in the ensuing paragraphs. 3.23 The Applicant submits that the Hon'ble Aut....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....given an opportunity to be heard in person on 07.10.2025 vide this office memorandum No. 27/2025/ARA, dated 23.06.2025, Shri. Rohit Jain, Advocate & Shri. Arihant Tater, Advocate appeared for the personal hearing as the authorised representatives (AR) of M/s. Flipkart India Private Limited. The AR reiterated the submissions made in their application for advance ruling. 5.1 The AR has furnished Additional submissions during the Personal hearing containing extracts of relevant statutory provisions, Notifications, Board Circulars and a few judgements. AR stated that they proposed a new business model by providing transportation services of goods exclusively by road to the customers purchasing such goods from various E-Commerce Operator portals. Whenever the goods are purchased by customers through the E-Commerce portal, the seller would deliver the goods to their nearest Flipkart India's warehouse known as "Source Mother Hub". The applicant will issue Goods Consignment Note and transport the goods by road from Source Mother Hub to the Customer's delivery address. They will issue Tax Invoice for Goods Transport Charges under HSN 9965 and charge IGST @ 12%. The transport charges will....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....T (wherever applicable) shall be charged over and above the price provided in this Agreement. It is however clarified that no GST would be charged on disbursement of consideration by the Company to the Applicant. Appropriate taxes/ GST (wherever applicable) would be collected by the Applicant at the time of raising of tax invoice on the end-customer. The said GST liability (wherever applicable) would be independently discharged by the Applicant in compliance with the GST laws. The invoice for service fees shall be duly raised by the Company within the time as prescribed under Central Goods and Services Tax Act and the Rules made hereunder. The Company shall state applicable Goods & Services Tax on its invoice and pay all collected taxes to the appropriate taxing authority. 6. Discussions and Findings: 6.1 We have carefully examined the submissions made by the applicant in their advance ruling application, submissions made during the personal hearing and the additional submissions through email thereafter. We have also considered the issue involved, the relevant facts and the applicant's submission / interpretation of law in respect of question on which the advance ruling is s....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....rvice in relation to transport of goods by road and issues consignment note, by whatever name called. From the above said explanations given in both the above said notifications, it can be inferred that "Goods Transport Agency" is a) Any person providing service in relation to transport of goods by road b) And issues a Consignment Note. A Consignment Note is a document issued by a GTA against the receipt of goods for the purpose of their transportation by road in a goods carriage. In commercial parlance, a Consignment Note signifies that the responsibility of the goods lies with the GTA until delivery. It acts as legal evidence of receipt of goods for transportation and transfer of custody from consignor to the transporter. By issuing a consignment note, the GTA undertakes to transport the goods from the consignor to the end-customer's delivery address for a consideration to be paid by the customer. In the instant case, the applicant is providing the service of transporting the goods to the customers purchasing them (through E-Commerce portals) by road to their delivery address and also issues a Consignment Note to them. We have referred to the sample Consig....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
.... (f) newspaper or magazines registered with the Registrar of Newspapers; (g) relief materials meant for victims of natural or man-made disasters, calamities, accidents or mishap; or (h) defence or military equipments. NIL Nil In this regard, we further note that an entry S. No. 21A was inserted to the exemption Notification No. 12/2017-Central Tax (Rate) dated 28.06.2017, by way of an amendment Notification No. 32/2017-Central Tax (Rate) dated 13.10.2017, and the said entry read as follows :- (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) 21A Heading 9965 or Heading 9967 Services provided by a goods transport agency to an unregistered person, including an unregistered casual taxable person, other than the following recipients, namely: (a) any factory registered under or governed by the Factories Act, 1948(63 of 1948); or (b) any Society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 (21 of 1860) or under any other law for the time being in force in any part of India; or (c) any Co-operative Society established by or under any law for the time being in force; or (d) anybody corporate established, by or under any ....