57th GST Council Recommends Measures to Facilitate Export of Services and Zero-Rated Supplies

The 57th Meeting of the GST Council was held on October 08, 2026, in New Delhi, under the chairpersonship of the Union Finance & Corporate Affairs Minister, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman. At the meeting, the GST Council made recommendations relating to process reforms, primarily covering registration, returns, refunds and adjudication; clarifications regarding the applicability of GST on supplies of certain goods and services; and other measures for trade facilitation and streamlining GST compliances.

Reforms relating to exports/zero rating of supplies of goods and services: The GST Council recommended:

• omission of sub-clause (v) of clause (6) of section 2 of the IGST Act, 2017, so as to remove the condition of supplier and recipient of services not being establishments of a distinct person, under Explanation 1 to section 8 of the IGST Act, 2017, for a supply of services to qualify as an “export of services”. This will facilitate refunds for Indian services providers in respect of services supplied to/through their foreign offices/branches and thus will promote export of services from India.
• issuance of a circular to clarify various issues related to receipt of payment in foreign exchange or Indian rupees as permissible, for export of goods and services.
• omission of clause (a) of section 13(3) of IGST Act, 2017, so that the place of supply for services in cases where goods are made physically available by the recipient of services to the supplier, will be determined as per the default provision under section 13(2) of the IGST Act, 2017 i.e. the location of the recipient of such services. This will facilitate access to export-related benefits under GST for Indian service providers providing such services to foreign recipients.
• insertion of an explanation to section 16(1) of the IGST Act, 2017 to provide that in the cases where goods are supplied to an overseas buyer, but the delivery of goods is made to the said buyer in an SEZ/FTWZ, and the payment for such supply is received in convertible foreign exchange or in Indian Rupees wherever permitted by the RBI, then such a supply will be deemed to be supply of goods to an SEZ/FTWZ. This will provide certainty regarding zero rating benefit to Indian manufacturers making supply of goods for overseas buyers by making delivery to them in an SEZ/FTWZ for warehousing or further processing.

The Press Release can be accessed at:  https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleaseDetail.aspx?PRID=2320934&reg=48&lang=1