Business Support and Construction Exemption Entries

Business Support and Construction explained: this guide covers what it means, who it applies to, the step-by-step process, documents required, fees, due dates and penalties in India — so you can stay compliant with confidence and avoid costly mistakes.

The remaining exemption entries do not form a theme. They protect specific policy objects — affordable single houses, start-up incubatees, industrial land allotments, small legal practices, inbound tourism — and each carries conditions that do not transfer to its neighbours.

Entry 10 exempts construction, erection, commissioning or installation of original works pertaining to a single residential unit otherwise than as a part of a residential complex. Entry 26 exempts services by an incubatee up to a total turnover of ₹50 lakh in a financial year, subject to two conditions. Entry 41 exempts upfront amount for long-term lease of 30 years or more of industrial plots by a State Government entity with 20% or more government ownership. Entry 43 exempts a tour operator's services to a foreign tourist for a tour wholly outside India. Entry 45 exempts legal services by an individual advocate, a firm of advocates or an arbitral tribunal to specified recipients.

Entry 10: the single residential unit

Exempt: "Services provided by way of construction, erection, commissioning, installation, completion, fitting out, repair, maintenance, renovation, or alteration of a civil structure or any other original works pertaining to the 'in-situ' redevelopment of existing slums" — and separately, construction of a single residential unit otherwise than as a part of a residential complex.

Two defined terms carry it. "Original works" means "all new constructions; all types of additions and alterations to abandoned or damaged structures on land that are required to make them workable; erection, commissioning or installation of plant, machinery or equipment or structures, whether pre-fabricated or otherwise."

"Single residential unit" means "a self-contained residential unit which is designed for use, wholly or principally, for residential purposes for one family."

And "otherwise than as a part of a residential complex" is the operative exclusion. A standalone house built for one family is within the entry; the same house built as one of forty in a project is not, because a "residential complex" means a complex comprising more than one residential unit.

Entry 26: incubatees, and the two conditions

Exempt: "Services by an incubatee up to a total turnover of fifty lakh rupees in a financial year, subject to the following conditions, namely — (a) the total turnover had not exceeded fifty lakh rupees during the preceding financial year; and (b) a period of three years has not elapsed from the date of entering into an agreement as an incubatee."

Both conditions must hold, and both are cumulative with the ₹50 lakh ceiling. The exemption fails if last year's turnover exceeded ₹50 lakh even if this year's is lower, and it fails on the third anniversary of the incubation agreement whatever the turnover.

"Incubatee" means "an entrepreneur located within the premises of a Technology Business Incubator or Bio-Incubator recognised by the National Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board of the Department of Science and Technology, and who has entered into an agreement with the TBI or the bio-incubator to enable himself to develop and validate the ideas."

Related entries in the same group:

• Entry 47 — services by the Government or a local authority by way of registration required under any law, or testing, calibration, safety check or certification relating to protection or safety of workers, consumers or the public at large, including fire licence fees;
• Entry 48 — services by the Government, a local authority or a Governmental authority by way of any activity in relation to a function entrusted to a municipality under Article 243W;
• Entry 51 — services by the Goods and Services Tax Network to the Central or State Government for implementation of GST;
• Entry 52 — services by an old age home run by the Central Government, State Government or an entity registered under section 12AA to its residents aged sixty years or more, against consideration up to ₹25,000 per month per member, where the consideration is inclusive of charges for boarding, lodging and maintenance.

Entry 41: long-term industrial leases

Exempt: services provided by the State Government Industrial Development Corporation or Undertaking or by any other entity having 20% or more ownership of the Central Government, State Government or Union territory — "to industrial units or the developers in any industrial or financial business area by way of granting long term lease of thirty years, or more of industrial plots or plots for development of infrastructure for financial business, against consideration in the form of upfront amount (called as premium, salami, cost, price, development charges or by any other name)."

Three conditions. The lessor's ownership test — 20% or more government ownership; the lease term — thirty years or more; and the consideration — an upfront amount, whatever it is called.

What is not exempt is the periodic lease rent on the same plot. Only the upfront premium is within the entry.

Entry 43: inbound tourism, taxed only for what happens in India

Exempt: "Services by a tour operator to a foreign tourist in relation to a tour conducted wholly outside India."

"Foreign tourist" means "a person not normally resident in India, who enters India for a stay of not more than six months for legitimate non-business purpose."

Note that the tour must be conducted wholly outside India. A tour operator in India arranging a Nepal-and-Bhutan itinerary for a foreign tourist is exempt; the same operator arranging a Rajasthan itinerary is not, and an itinerary with both Indian and foreign legs is not "wholly outside India".

The adjacent entry. Entry 44 exempts services provided by a Fair Price Shop to the Central Government, State Government or Union territory by way of sale of food grains, kerosene, sugar, edible oil etc. under the Public Distribution System against consideration in the form of commission or margin.

Entry 45: legal services

Exempt: services provided by:

• (a) an arbitral tribunal to any person other than a business entity, or to a business entity with an aggregate turnover up to the registration threshold in the preceding financial year, or to the Central Government, State Government, Union territory, local authority, Governmental authority or Government entity;
• (b) a partnership firm of advocates or an individual as an advocate other than a senior advocate, by way of legal services to an advocate or partnership firm of advocates providing legal services, to any person other than a business entity, to a business entity with turnover up to the threshold, or to the Government and its entities;
• (c) a senior advocate by way of legal services to any person other than a business entity, to a business entity with turnover up to the threshold, or to the Government and its entities.

And where the entry does not exempt, reverse charge applies. Legal services by an individual advocate, a senior advocate or a firm of advocates to a business entity located in the taxable territory are under entry 2 of Notification No. 13/2017-CT(R) — the recipient pays. The legal services reverse charge entry →

So an advocate's supplies are almost never taxed under forward charge: either exempt under entry 45, or reverse-charged to the business entity.

Printing, the Constitution and the rest

• Entry 49 — services by the Government, a local authority or a Governmental authority by way of any activity in relation to a function entrusted to a Panchayat under Article 243G;
• Entry 60 — services by way of printing of all goods falling under Chapter 49 of the Customs Tariff, which attract nil rate of Central Tax — including the Constitution of India, textbooks and periodicals notified as such;
• Entry 61 — services provided by the Central Government, State Government, Union territory or local authority by way of issuance of passport, visa, driving licence, birth certificate or death certificate;
• Entry 62 — services provided by the Government by way of tolerating non-performance of a contract for which consideration in the form of fines or liquidated damages is payable to the Government;
• Entry 63 — services by the Government by way of assignment of right to use natural resources to an individual farmer for cultivation of plants and rearing of animals, except the rearing of horses, for food, fibre, fuel, raw material or other similar products;
• Entry 65B — services by way of collecting or providing news by an independent journalist, Press Trust of India or United News of India.

Entries 47 to 49, 61 and 62 all concern the Government as supplier, and are read with the wider government-supplies scheme rather than with the commercial entries here. Exemptions on supplies to Government →

Key takeaways

• Entry 10 exempts original works for a single residential unit otherwise than as part of a residential complex — a standalone house, not a unit in a project.
• Entry 26 exempts an incubatee up to ₹50 lakh, only if the preceding year was also within ₹50 lakh and three years have not elapsed from the incubation agreement.
• Entry 41 exempts the upfront premium on a thirty-year-or-more industrial lease from a body with 20% government ownership — not the periodic rent.
• Entry 43 exempts a tour operator's services to a foreign tourist for a tour wholly outside India.
• Entry 45 exempts advocates, senior advocates, firms of advocates and arbitral tribunals supplying non-business entities, small business entities and the Government; other supplies fall under reverse charge.
• Entry 52 exempts old age homes for residents aged 60+ up to ₹25,000 per month per member, inclusive of boarding, lodging and maintenance.
• Entry 60 exempts printing of nil-rated Chapter 49 goods, and entry 61 exempts passports, visas, driving licences and birth and death certificates.

Read next

• Finance and Insurance Exemptions: Entries 27 to 40
• Exemptions on Supplies Made to Government, Entry by Entry
• Agriculture Exemptions: Entries 54 to 58 and "Agricultural Produce"

Disclaimer: Positions stated as on 5 September 2026, based on entries 10, 26, 41, 43, 44, 45, 47, 48, 49, 51, 52, 60, 61, 62, 63 and 65B of Notification No. 12/2017-Central Tax (Rate) and entry 2 of Notification No. 13/2017-Central Tax (Rate), as reproduced in the ICAI Handbook on Exempted Supplies under GST (April 2025).