No, Govt didn’t make any GST exceptions for Gautam Adani

Gautam Adani has become a cynosure in India’s political landscape these days, from television to newspaper headlines. Recently, K.T. Rama Rao, known by the alias KTR, a minister in the state of Telangana and also a son of the CM KCR, tweeted a screenshot from the newspaper, with the headline “GST not applicable on transfer of Jaipur International airport biz to Adani Group.” 

While sharing the newspaper cutting, KTR wrote on Twitter, “Ordinary citizens have to pay GST even for milk and curd, but PM Modi made exceptions for Adani. He has given Jaipur Airport on a platter to Adani. Isn’t this Revadi or Freebies?

Priyanka Chaturvedi, a Rajya Sabha member also tweeted with the same claim, “While taking over the operations of UP and Gujarat airports, Adani was exempt from paying GST because it was a going concern. However, municipal taxes,  property taxes, water charges, etc. were also exempted from GST.”

Jawhar Sircar, a Rajya Sabha M.P. of the Trinamool Congress, also wrote, “You pay GST at high rates. But Adani does not pay GST when he buys a ready-built airport (made with our money) through a lucrative Modi-favoured deal.”

YSR from TRS tweeted with the same claim, “Common man has to pay for GST even on milk, curd & medicines. But Adani gets an exception for everything!”

Twitter user Anindita wrote while posting an infographic image, “Govt gives ‘GST Exemption’ to Adani group on transfer of Jaipur Airport to Adani “

So, is it true that PM Modi made GST exceptions for specifically Gautam Adani only? Let’s Fact Check.

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Fact Check

Before getting into the fact-checking process, we at The Only Fact wanted to know what this fuss was all about. After reading the article from both The New Indian Express and The Hindu, we came to know that, the Authority of Advance Ruling (AAR) recently said that the transfer of Jaipur airport operations by the Airport Authority of India to the Adani Group was exempt from Goods and Service Tax (GST).

To put it simply, Adani Group was not charged GST for taking over the operations of Jaipur Airport because the transfer of a business as a going concern, as a whole business, or as an independent part of a business is considered a service under GST law, and such supplies are exempt from GST.

Moreover, business as a going concern means the buyer can continue doing business with the purchased business without adding other items. GST will be charged if any business assets are sold, such as a chair, table, or computer.

Is this law applicable only to Adani, or to anyone who purchases the whole business or an independent part of the firm?

In 2018, the Karnataka bench of the AAR gave a similar ruling based on the application filed by Rajashri Foods Pvt. Ltd. However, we looked for more cases that fell into the category of exemption from GST.

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After typing pertinent keywords like exemptions from GST, we came across Notification No. 12/207, issued under the Central Goods and Service Tax (CGST) Act 2017.

Notification No. 12/207, issued under the CGST Act 2017, provides a comprehensive list of goods and services that are exempted from GST. Transfer of business is one such thing among a list of various others.

Further, to enhance our investigation, we looked out for discussion on Twitter on the Adani issue. After sifting through various tweets, we saw that Ajay Rotti, an expert on taxation,  had himself taken KTR to task. He tweeted, “This is the law in Telangana as well. Just check with your officers. Sale of business as a going concern doesn’t attract GST even in your own state.”

However, KTR did not delete his post despite being publicly chastised by a tax expert.

Nonetheless, it was quite evident that the government did not do Adani any favours. Exempting him from paying taxes while transferring the operations of Jaipur Airport was a natural process. Furthermore, it is beyond doubt that there was no dirty business involved in the transfer of airport operations to the Adani Group. KTR, on the other hand, is engaging in misinformation campaign politics by tying this corporate agreement to PM Modi.

After additional investigation, we discovered that many other nations, like India, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and a few others, provide exemptions to the transfer of businesses of going concern.

Since the release of the Hindenburg report, Indian businessman Gautam Das Adani has been on an attack of misinformation. This is one of the many attacks he has been facing.

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