Foreign consultant fee

A business engaged a foreign consultant from France for research on a contract basis, incurring monthly charges and travel expenses. They are seeking to understand their GST obligations, specifically if the 18% Reverse Charge Mechanism (RCM) applies and if there are ways to avoid this liability, especially given their agriculture industry's GST-exempt final products. Advice suggests that if the services are intermediary in nature, the place of supply might be outside India, negating RCM. Alternatively, adhering to pure agency conditions for expense reimbursements could reduce RCM liability to only the consultancy fee.