Facts of the Case:
The applicant is a provider of Cold Storage Service which includes loading, unloading, packing, storage or warehousing of agricultural produce which is exempted under the Notifications 11/2017 and 12/2017(Rate) dated 28.06.2017.
The applicant also warehouses tamarind inner pulp in the cold storage which the applicant claims is an agricultural produce since tamarind is primarily produced or cultivated by small farmers who remove the shell or the upper part and bring the inner part (which is the consumable part of Tamarind) for sale.
Matter for which ruling is sought:
Whether the service of cold storage of tamarind inner pulp without shell and seeds are exempted under the purview of the definition of Agricultural produce vide Notification No. 1I/2OI7- C.T.(Rate) and 12l2O17- C.T.(Rate) both dated 28/06/2OI7.
Tribunal’s Consideration:
Dried Tamarind is taxable at 5% while only Fresh Tamarind is exempted under GST.
The process of making pulp from tamarind is not done at farm level. It is done as a ‘Cottage Industry’. The Tamarind which is processed by sun drying, deshelling, deseeding, the process which are not farm level processes, is not an Agricultural Produce.
Ruling:
Tamarind inner pulp without shell and seeds is not an Agricultural produce ‘as defined under Explanation 2(d) of the Notification No. 12l20I7- Central Tax (Rate) dated 28.06.2017 and, therefore, service of cold storage of such tamarind are not exempted from GST under Sl. No. 54 (e) of Notification No. 12/2017-Central Tax (Rate) dated 28.06.2017.
Source: [2021] 127 taxmann.com 149 (AAR – TAMILNADU)
