18% GST is levied by the Karnataka Authority for Advance Ruling on public EV battery charging stations.

&NewLine;<p>The charging of electric vehicle &lpar;EV&rpar; batteries at public stations would be subject to an 18&percnt; Goods and Services Tax &lpar;GST&rpar;&comma; according to a ruling by the Karnataka Authority for Advance Ruling &lpar;ARR&rpar;&period; The decision was made by Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Corporation Ltd after they sought clarification about the installation of public charging stations &lpar;PCS&rpar; for both two-wheeler and four-wheeler EVs&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>GST Ambit and Energy Charges Clarified<&sol;strong><br>The company wanted to know if EV battery charging services would be covered by the GST ambit&period; They further questioned whether the GST law exempts energy payments because they entail the supply of products&comma; whereas the GST is normally applied to service fees&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>EV charging as a Service Supply<&sol;strong><br>The ARR responded by defining charging EV batteries as the process of transforming electrical energy into chemical energy that is stored in the battery&period; Since the charging station doesn&&num;8217&semi;t sell electricity to anyone and consumption takes place on its property&comma; the Electricity Act doesn&&num;8217&semi;t require a licence&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>GST Rate of 18&percnt; for Electrical Energy Supply and Service Fees<br>According to the ARR&comma; the combined &&num;8220&semi;supply of electrical energy&&num;8221&semi; and &&num;8220&semi;service charges&&num;8221&semi; form a provision of services and are therefore subject to an 18&percnt; GST rate&period; The purpose of this decision is to clarify the tax ramifications of public EV charging stations&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>From 3&comma;423 in 2022 to 8&comma;853 at the start of June&comma; the number of fueling stations in India that offer electric charging facilities has significantly increased&period; The number of electric vehicle registrations has also increased significantly&comma; rising to 1&comma;57&comma;217 units in May from 1&comma;10&comma;997 in April&period; 6&comma;19&comma;172 electric vehicles have been registered in the nation so far in 2023&period; Growing EV registrations and the growth of public charging infrastructure point to a national trend in favour of sustainable transportation options&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><&sol;p>&NewLine;