Automation Expert
10728 Points
Posted on 14 November 2026
The Indian broker’s commission is consideration for a service. If the broker arranges or facilitates a supply between two persons located outside India, the service is generally an “intermediary service” under section 2(13) of the IGST Act, provided the broker acts as an agent/broker and does not supply the goods or service on its own account.
For intermediary services, the place of supply is the supplier’s location in India (IGST Act, section 13(8)(b)). So, even though the goods remain outside India and the commission is paid from abroad, the service is not an export of services and is generally subject to GST in India at the applicable rate—usually 18%. Payment in foreign currency does not by itself make it an export.
If, on the actual contract and conduct, the Indian business supplies a service on its own account rather than arranging a supply between other parties, the intermediary classification may not apply. The transaction could then qualify as an export if all conditions in section 2(6) of the IGST Act are met; the agreement, invoicing and the broker’s precise role are therefore important.
Classifying the commission correctly is central to GST invoicing and return reporting for cross-border brokerage. Manual review of contracts, invoices and place-of-supply rules is difficult; automation reduces repetitive work while professional judgment remains in control. At Jir AI, our 2,000+ AI agents and 650+ integrations streamline GST, ITR, TDS, TCS and other compliance workflows, helping reduce manual workload by up to 70%. WhatsApp us to explore support for your compliance workflow: https://wa.me/message/3HVOZ7HIY4ESC1