This circular provides clarification regarding the GST implications and place of supply for advertising services rendered by Indian advertising agencies to foreign clients.

It clarifies that when an Indian advertising agency provides a comprehensive advertising service—including content creation, media planning, and media buying—directly to a foreign client on a principal-to-principal basis, it is not an intermediary service under Section 2(13) of the IGST Act. The recipient of such services is the foreign client, not its Indian representative or the target audience in India.

Further, these services are not performance-based services under Section 13(3) and do not involve goods or immovable property. Hence, the place of supply is determined under Section 13(2) of the IGST Act as the location of the recipient — i.e., outside India. Accordingly, such services qualify as export of services, subject to compliance with Section 2(6) of the IGST Act.

However, if the Indian advertising agency merely facilitates the purchase of media space on behalf of the foreign client, acting as an intermediary, the place of supply will be the location of the supplier (India), and such services will not qualify as exports.