Engineering and Infrastructure
Engineers fly to project sites every week, while a central desk books everything to head office.
Where Airline Credit Usually Leaks
The patterns we see most often in Engineering and Infrastructure. Your company’s picture will differ; the review shows by how much.
What We Do First
Most relevant service: Airline GST Reconciliation
- Link every trip to a project and its site GSTIN
- Check the Input Service Distributor set-up
- Move credit to where output tax is paid
Case Study
Airline GST Reconciliation · EPC contractor · projects in 9 states
Moving Travel Credit from Head Office to Project Sites
Context
The contractor builds roads, bridges and industrial plants for public and private clients, with active projects in nine states and a registration in each. Engineers, planners and quality staff fly to sites every week. A central travel desk at the head office booked all tickets and gave the head office GSTIN on every one, because that was simplest and the travel budget sat there.
The Challenge
In two financial years the company booked about 22,000 domestic flights. Almost all were billed to the head office GSTIN, yet about 70 per cent related to work at project sites whose output tax was paid from other registrations. The head office had little output tax of its own, so its ledger filled with credit it could not use efficiently.
From April 2025 an Input Service Distributor registration is mandatory for distributing common input services, and the company had not set one up. Credit on travel that clearly belonged to one site was stuck at head office, and the older year was approaching its Section 16(4) limit.
What We Did
Our systems pulled every invoice from the airline portals and linked each trip to a project using the travel desk's cost codes and site rosters. Travel for a single project was separated from travel that served several sites or the head office.
For current bookings, specialists had airlines bill the site GSTIN directly. For past invoices, the company registered as an ISD on our advice and specialists prepared the distribution of common credit under the prescribed rules. Finance decided only on the allocation key for shared travel.
The Outcome
₹1.1 cr of credit was moved to the registrations that could use it, through reissued invoices and ISD distribution. All nine state GSTINs now receive their own travel credit, which offsets output tax on project billing.
The travel desk books against the site GSTIN by default, and each month we check the invoices's invoices against project codes. Head office credit no longer builds up unused.
Where the Recovered Amount Came From
₹ L
Illustrative.
Timeline
- Weeks 1–3Invoices pulled, trips mapped to projects and cost codes
- Weeks 4–6ISD registration obtained, allocation key agreed with finance
- Weeks 7–10Airline reissues for project travel, ISD distribution prepared
- Weeks 11–12Credit claimed across nine GSTINs, monthly recovery statement started
Booking to the head office is convenient but can strand credit where it cannot be used.
Since April 2025, common services billed centrally need an ISD registration to be passed to units.
Agree the allocation key for shared travel early, it is the one real decision.
Illustrative case study based on a typical engagement. Client name withheld and details changed to protect confidentiality. Open the full case study
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