Is Service Tax applicable for Income from Abroad

Hello,

This is to seek clarification from the experts whether Service Tax is applicable on the income received from abroad. In both the cases below, purchase order is received from the client based in abroad only.

Such income could be received by

a) Actually delivering the services by visiting the customer abroad and getting paid from abroad

or by

b) Instead of visiting the customer abroad for delivering the services, one executes the order from India and gets paid from abroad.

In both the cases, the payment is received form abroad in foreign currency.

Please also clarify if it is essential to get paid in foreign currency only. There are some money exchanges in the Arabian Gulf countries who can send payment in rupees to an Indian bank account straight away.

Thanks in advance.