SC rejects customs dept's plea on retrospective IGST on reimport of aircraft
This story was originally published at 18:35 IST on 14 July 2025
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NEW DELHI – In a relief to InterGlobe Aviation Ltd. and SpiceJet Ltd., the Supreme Court on Monday dismissed the customs department's plea, which sought to impose retrospective integrated goods and services tax on reimport of aircraft or aircraft parts into India after their repairs outside the country. The customs department had said that an amended notification issued in 2021 would have a retrospective effect from the original exemption notification of 2017.
According to the customs department, InterGlobe and SpiceJet had to pay the integrated GST for the period 2017 to 2021, which otherwise was not leviable under the original notification. A bench of Justices B.V. Nagarathna and K.V. Viswanathan rejected the department's contention.
InterGlobe Aviation and SpiceJet, scheduled airline operators, imported aircraft and aircraft parts and exported them for repairs. When the repaired aircraft and parts were re-imported into India, bills of entry had to be filed. In the 2017 notification, due to exemptions, the airlines were required to pay only customs duty on the fair cost of repairs and the cost of insurance and freight charges. However, in the 2021 notification, the government said the airlines were required to pay integrated GST, in addition to the basic customs duty, on the fair cost of repairs and the cost of insurance and freight charges.
In August, the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal ruled that the 2021 notification was not retrospective. Challenging this, the customs department moved the apex court.
Meanwhile, the Delhi High Court in March quashed a part of the government's 2021 notification that sought to impose integrated GST on reimport of aircraft or aircraft parts into India after their repairs outside the country. The high court declared the 2021 notification, insofar as it purports to levy an additional levy over and above the IGST, as unconstitutional.
On Monday, shares of InterGlobe Aviation ended 0.4% higher at INR 5,940.50 on the National Stock Exchange, while shares of SpiceJet closed 0.1% higher at INR 38.38 on the BSE.
Reported by Surya Tripathi
Edited by Saji George Titus
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