India, Sept. 12 -- The Bombay High Court's Goa bench has ruled that Goods and Services Tax (GST) is not applicable on construction services under a Joint Development Agreement (JDA) once the developer becomes the property owner through conveyance.

This ruling offers significant relief to real estate developers and is expected to bring clarity for JDA-based projects in land-constrained markets like Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad. It is also likely to help streamline GST treatment in redevelopment projects, a report published in the Economic Times said.

The ruling settles a long-standing dispute on the taxation of JDAs. The revenue department had maintained that GST was payable at the time of entering into such agreements, while develop...