Supreme Court Affirms Mobile Towers as ‘Plant & Machinery’; ITC Eligible Under GST
New Delhi, August 8, 2025 –
In a significant relief for the telecom industry, the Supreme Court has ruled that mobile telecom towers are ‘plant and machinery’ and not immovable property, thereby making them eligible for Input Tax Credit (ITC) under the GST regime.
The decision came as the apex court dismissed the Revenue Department’s Special Leave Petition (SLP) against a Delhi High Court judgment in the Bharti Airtel case. The SLP was rejected at the admission stage by a bench of Justice Pankaj Mithal and Justice Prasanna B. Varale, effectively upholding the High Court’s ruling.
The Revenue sought to distinguish the classification of telecom towers under GST from the earlier service tax regime. However, the Supreme Court refused to permit such “hair-splitting” interpretations, affirming that the legal position remains consistent.
The Core Issue
The dispute centered on whether telecom towers—often installed on land or rooftops—should be classified as:
Immovable property – which blocks ITC under Section 17(5) of the CGST Act, 2017, or
Plant and machinery – which is expressly excluded from the definition of blocked credit.
With this verdict, the Supreme Court has settled the issue in favor of telecom operators, confirming ITC eligibility and creating a strong precedent for similar infrastructure-related tax disputes.