CUBE HIGHWAYS AND TRANSPORTATION ASSETS ADVISOR PRIVATE LIMITED Vs. ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER CGST DIVISION

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner has filed the present petitions impugning the orders passed by the Appellate Authority (respondent no.2) rejecting the appeals preferred by the petitioner against the orders passed by the Adjudicating Authority (respondent no.1).

(2.) The principal issue involved in these petitions are common. The controversy, essentially, relates to whether the services rendered by the petitioner to I Squared Asia Advisors Pte. Ltd., a company having its principal place of the business in Singapore (hereafter referred to as 'I Squared') in terms of the Amended Support Service Agreement dtd. 6/6/2015 (hereafter 'the Agreement') constitutes export of services. The petitioner claims that the services rendered by it are export of services because I Squared, the service recipient, is located overseas. However, the respondent authorities have held, on varying grounds, that services provided by the petitioner do not qualify as 'export of services' as the place of supply of services is in India.

(3.) The petitioner is a company incorporated under the Companies Act, 2013. It is engaged in the business of rendering investment advisory services related to the investment by non-resident group companies in the target companies in India, which are engaged in the transportation sector. The petitioner and I Squared belong to the same group of companies. The petitioner had entered into a Support Service Agreement on 30/5/2015 with I Squared. The scope of services to be provided under the said agreement were subsequently altered, therefore, the said agreement was terminated and the parties (the petitioner and I Squared) entered into the Amended Support Service Agreement on 6/6/2015 (the Agreement). In terms of the Agreement, the petitioner agreed to provide Advisory Support Services as mentioned in the Agreement, the parties agreed that the petitioner would be remunerated at an arm's length price to be determined on cost-plus markup basis.