South Indian Bank Ltd. Vs Joint Director, Directorate General of GST Intelligence (Kerala High Court)
The Hon’ble Kerala High Court, in the case of M/s South Indian Bank Ltd. v. Joint Director, Directorate General of GST Intelligence, along with two connected matters namely, The Federal Bank Ltd. v. The Joint Director, Directorate General of GST Intelligence [Writ Petition (Civil) No. 24348 of 2025] and M/s South Indian Bank Ltd. v. Additional Commissioner of Central Tax & Central Excise [Writ Petition (Civil) No. 23546 of 2024], examined the prevalent connection between Input Tax Credit (ITC) and Income Tax depreciation, particularly considering the case of banking industries, Financial Companies, Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs). The Court addressed this issue in the specific context of banking companies, financial institutions, and NBFCs, and held that claiming depreciation on the unavailed portion of the tax credit does not disentitle the assessee from claiming ITC on the remaining portion, where no depreciation has been claimed.
Facts:
M/s South Indian Bank Ltd. and The Federal Bank Ltd. (“the Petitioners”) are banking companies that challenged the Show Cause Notices (“the SCNs”) issued under Section 74 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (“the CGST Act”) in W.P.(C) No. 29087/2025 and W.P.(C) No. 24348/2025, as well as an Order-in-Original (“the OIO”) passed under Section 73 of the CGST Act in W.P.(C) No. 23546/2024.
