AI Drafter 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2026 (5) TMI 1795
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.... (a) On the Appellant who had sought it in respect of any matter referred to in sub-section (2) of Section 97 for advance ruling. (b) On the concerned officer or the jurisdictional officer in respect of the Appellant. 3. In terms of Section 103(2) of the Act, this advance ruling shall be binding unless the law, facts or circumstances supporting the said Advance Ruling have changed. 4. In terms of Section 104(1) of the Act, where the Appellate Authority finds that advance ruling pronounced by it under sub-section (1) of Section 101 has been obtained by the Appellant by fraud or suppression of material facts or misrepresentation of facts, it may, by order declare such ruling to be void ab-initio and thereupon all the provisions of this Act or the rules made thereunder shall apply to the Appellant as if such advance ruling has never been made. Order under Section 101 of Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017/Haryana Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. The present appeal has been filed by M/s Maithani Enterprises, Gurugram, Haryana (hereinafter referred to as "the Appellant" under Section 100(1) of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 and the Haryana Good....
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....es are not zero-rated under Section 16(1)(a), and the applicant is not eligible for a refund of unutilized ITC under Section 16(3)(b) read with Section 54(3)(i) of the CGST Act, 2017, and Rule 89 of the CGST Rules, 2017. The applicant must charge 18% IGST on invoices raised to M/s Meteora Consultancy and can utilize ITC to offset this liability. Answer 1: The services provided by the applicant are taxable at 18% and the services provided are not zero-rated services. Answer No. 2: No, the services provided by the applicant are not export of services and would not be entitled for the benefit of the refund of Input tax credit under IGST Act. 4. Prayer of Appellant 1. The ruling order given by the Haryana Advance Ruling Authority, Goods & Services Tax may be set aside with effect from the date of the order. 2. Grant of Personal Hearing. 3. To classify the nature of services by the taxpayer as export of services as per Section 2(6) of IGST Act 2017 and thus it will be zero rated supply. 4. The Appellant be eligible for getting refund of input tax credit on provision of zero-rated service. 5. To add, alter, vary, modify or....
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.... territory and any other establishment being a business vertical registered within that State or Union territory, then such establishments shall be treated as establishments of distinct persons. 1.3 Section 2(13) - "intermediary" means a broker, an agent or any other person by whatever name called, who arranges or facilitates the supply of goods or services or both, or securities, between two more persons, but does not include a person who supplies such goods or services or both or securities on his own account; The term intermediary as defined u/s 2(13) of the IGST Act 2017, has been adopted from the Finance Act 1994 i.e. Service Tax Law. It is an established fact that an intermediary is one who is not providing service as a whole but its services forms an essential ingredient of the output made by its recipient. The principal to principal supply between two concerns cannot be treated as intermediary services. In this regard, it would be important to analyse whether the Support Services are likely to qualify as 'Intermediary Services' in which case the Place of Supply will be in India and hence, the services may not qualify as export. A. ACTIVITIES PPRFORMED BY THE APP....
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....rio, the Appellant does not undertake any direct sales with the customers in India rather as a part of its support functions, provides different services such as:- - studying sales and distribution systems of companies, comparing them with similar companies; recommending changes and - Studying company product portfolio and comparing with similar completion companies and recommending changes and - Studying organization structure and Benchmarking people and systems across competition and giving recommendations and - Assessing employees across competency systems and advising changes to its un related enterprise situated outside India i.e. M/s Meteora. The Appellant is nowhere involved in concluding contracts. It is not involved in negotiating/ concluding sales with the customers of M/s Meteora. Accordingly, the essence of acting as a mediator for facilitation of the supply of goods/ services seems to be not present in the current scenario. Second limb - Who arranges or facilitates a provision of a service (hereinafter called the 'main' service) or a supply of goods 4. It is submitted that the second limb wherein the expression "arrang....
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....aid person should be said to have provided his service only to his principal on his own account and accordingly should not get characterized as Intermediary. 6.3 In the current case, since the Appellant has been carrying out the business support services as per the standard guidelines, procedures and instructions provided by M/s Meteora. Accordingly, it is submitted that the services to M/s Meteora by the Appellant would then be treated as provision of the main service and not as ancillary to facilitating arranging of a supply of goods/ services. 6.4 It is submitted that, as per para 5.9.6 of the Education Guide 2012 issued by CBEC it is mentioned: Similarly, persons such as call centres, who provide services to their clients by dealing with the customers of the client on the client's behalf, but actually provided these services on their own account will not be classified as intermediaries. Even in the Appellant's case is also providing the services on its own account to its overseas counterpart situated outside India. The Appellant is providing A) Sales and Marketing Consulting B) Manpower/ HR Consulting to M/s Meteora on a one-to-one basis and sam....
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....ence the supply would be zero rated under GST if the conditions as laid down supra in Ground one are satisfied: 7.1 In the instant case, the Appellant satisfies all the aforementioned conditions as stated in the ensuing paragraphs. Therefore, applicable GST would be zero rated vide Section 16(1) of the IGST Act 2017 in the instant case and the Appellant is eligible for refund of GST. Condition I: The supplier of service is located in India The Appellant is the service provider and is located in India, which is within the taxable territory. This is evident from the GST certificate submitted by the Appellant. Condition II: The recipient of service is located outside India The recipient of service M/s Meteora are located outside India (viz .., in Malaysia) Condition III: The place of supply of the service is outside India As mentioned in the aforesaid paragraph's, the service provided by the Appellant are Business Auxiliary Services / Business Support Service' and would accordingly be covered under Section 13(2) of IGST Act, 2017, where the place of supply would pe outside India. The relevant portion of Section 13(2) is reproduced as given below: Section ....
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....024 (adjourned due to non-appearance), 11.07.2024 (adjourned). Last hearing 07.08.2025 (Appellant or Authorized representative did not appear). Despite opportunities, neither the appellant nor any authorized representative appeared in personals hearings. However, the appellant requested vide letter dated 06.08.2025 that submissions and additional submissions may be considered as their submissions and deemed appearance for the purpose of hearing. 7. Latest Submissions of the Appellant The Appellant on dated 06/08/2025 submits that it is a proprietorship concern engaged in providing Business Support Services, including sales and marketing consulting and manpower or HR advisory services, to M/s Meteora Consulting Sdn. Bhd., Malaysia, under a principal-to-principal service agreement. The Appellant provides such services directly to M/s Meteora on its own account, without acting as an agent, broker or facilitator between M/s Meteora and its Indian clients. The Appellant does not negotiate or conclude contracts on behalf of M/s Meteora, and its remuneration is independent of any outcome or transaction between M/s Meteora and any third party. All invoices are raised directly on M/s ....
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....mpur, Malaysia is currently engaged in a consulting project in India for Modenik Textiles Pvt Ltd, an Indian textiles company. As part of its consulting work for Modenik, Meteora is engaging M/s Maithani Enterprises (GST No - 06AGAPM3115G1ZX), a firm owned by Manoj Kumar Satyendra Maithani, an Indian national with passport no. M 1898945, for on- the-ground market Services as and when needed. This work would be of temporary nature and would involve working with the local client's team. While Manoj is not an employee of Meteora on a permanent basis, he will be bound by the same confidentiality and other agreements that Meteora signs with the client. M/s. Maithani Enterprises will be reimbursed for their market services on a daily rate of USD 760 (all inclusive) directly by Meteora Consulting Malaysia. Any tax deduction in India is M/s Maithani Enterprises responsibility &Meteora is not responsible for any tax payment in India as a result of this temporary engagement. This agreement will be valid till 31st Mar'23 unless otherwise terminated." 9. Discussion & Findings 9.1 We have carefully examined the records of the case, the submissions made ....
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.... whatever name called, who arranges or facilitates the supply of goods or services or both, or securities, between two or more persons, but does not include a person who supplies such goods or services or both or securities on his own account; Place of Supply (Section 13(8)(b), IGST Act): Section 13. Place of supply of services where location of supplier or location of recipient is outside India .- (8) The place of supply of the following services shall be the location of the supplier of services, namely :- (b) intermediary services; 9.4 Upon careful examination of the scope of services and the agreement between the Appellant and M/s Meteora Consulting Sdn. Bhd., Malaysia, it is observed that the Appellant provides Business Support Services, which include sales and marketing consulting and manpower/HR advisory services, to M/s Meteora which involved working with local client's team of Indian firm. The essential characteristic of an intermediary service is the presence of three distinct parties and the role of the intermediary being arranging or facilitating the supply between the other two parties. In the present case, there are three parties ....
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....d the payment arrangement reflects reimbursement for services rendered rather than an independent transaction qualifying as an export of services. Consequently, the said supply cannot be treated as a zero-rated supply under Section 16 of the IGST Act. In view of the contractual terms and the nature of the activities undertaken, it is evident that the services are performed within India by the appellant and are in the nature of intermediary services facilitating the provision of services by Meteora to its client. In terms of Section 13(8)(b) of the IGST Act, the place of supply in respect of intermediary services shall be the location of the supplier of services, which in the present case is in India. Therefore, the services provided by M/s Maithani Enterprises are taxable in India, and the appellant is not entitled to claim refund of Input Tax Credit under the provisions of the Act. 9.5 The Appellant has also relied upon some judicial precedents in support of its contention. In the case of GAP International Sourcing (India) Put. Ltd. vs. Commissioner of Service Tax, Delhi [2015 (37) S.T.R. 757 (Tri. - Del.)], the Hon'ble Tribunal held that the services qualified as expo....