Customer Story
From Manual to Automated: How Forbes Marshall Achieved 97% ITC Realization
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Overview
Forbes Marshall is a multinational engineering company specializing in steam engineering, process automation, and energy efficiency solutions. Founded in 1926 by J.N. Marshall and headquartered in Kasarwadi, Pune, Maharashtra, India, the company has built a strong global reputation over nearly a century of operation. Forbes Marshall is widely regarded as one of the few organizations in the world with deep expertise in both steam engineering and control instrumentation. This dual specialization has enabled the company to design and deliver industry-specific systems focused on energy efficiency and utilities management across a broad range of sectors, including textiles, food processing, paper, power, and chemicals.
With offices in 18 countries, installations in 28, and six manufacturing facilities across India, the UK, and Singapore, Forbes Marshall serves over 8,000 customers worldwide. For the financial year ending March 2025, the company reported a revenue of ₹1,440 crore, with a workforce of over 2,500 employees. Given the scale and complexity of its operations, Forbes Marshall manages a significant volume of transactions across its vendor and supply network, making accurate and timely GST compliance a critical business requirement.
The Challenge
As a large multinational enterprise with operations spread across multiple states in India, Forbes Marshall faced significant hurdles in managing its GST compliance effectively. The scale of transactions, the breadth of its vendor network, and the complexity of multi-GSTIN operations made routine compliance tasks anything but routine.
- Timely Action on IMS Data: The team struggled to take timely decisions on Invoice Management System (IMS) data, including accepting, pending, or rejecting invoices within required timelines. Delayed actions created the risk of missing Input Tax Credit (ITC) opportunities and added pressure on the compliance team to manage large volumes within tight windows.
- Reconciling High Volumes of SO and PO Invoices: Managing and reconciling a large volume of Supplier Only (SO) and Purchase Only (PO) invoices was a significant operational challenge. Identifying which invoices were eligible for reconciliation and availing ITC was a time-consuming and error-prone process without a structured mechanism in place.
- Accurate GSTR-3B Table 4 Reporting: Determining eligible ITC, reversals, and reclaim amounts for accurate GSTR-3B Table 4 reporting proved complex and demanding. Without clearly structured data to support this process, the risk of reporting errors and compliance gaps remained a constant concern.
- Invoice Matching and Reconciliation Accuracy: Forbes Marshall faced persistent challenges with invoice mismatches during reconciliation. The absence of a flexible matching mechanism made it difficult to accurately reconcile invoices, particularly in cases where multiple invoices needed to be mapped against a single entry.
- Tracking Vendor Filing Status for Payments: Monitoring the GST return filing status of vendors before processing payments was a cumbersome and largely manual task. Without a reliable tracking mechanism, it was difficult to identify which vendors had filed their returns and were eligible for payment, and which had not, creating compliance and cash flow risks.
The Solution
Forbes Automobiles partnered with Sovos India to address their GST compliance challenges. A dedicated team of domain experts, IT professionals, and Chartered Accountants at Sovos India worked closely with the Forbes Automobiles team to design and implement a customized compliance solution through the Sovos India Tax Compliance Suite.
Key solutions delivered included:
- Monthly Purchase Register Reconciliation Every month, Forbes Marshall provides their purchase register for the respective period. Based on the reconciliation carried out by the Sovos India team, approximately 97% of eligible ITC is successfully availed within the same month, ensuring minimal revenue leakage and timely credit utilization.
- ITC Report in GSTR-3B Table-Wise Format The Sovos India team delivers a structured ITC report to the Forbes Marshall team every month, formatted directly in line with GSTR-3B table requirements. This allows the team to analyze data quickly, significantly reduces turnaround time, and ensures accurate and confident filing of GSTR-3B returns.
- Vendor Reconciliation and Follow-Up Support Through a dedicated vendor reconciliation report, Sovos India helps Forbes Marshall identify vendors who have not yet filed their GSTR-3B returns. This enables the team to proactively follow up with non-compliant vendors, ensuring timely filings and safeguarding ITC availability.
- Probable Matching for Unreconciled Invoices For invoices that remain unreconciled, Sovos India provides probable matching suggestions to the Forbes Marshall team. Upon their confirmation, manual matching is performed, enabling the recovery of approximately 2% of additional ITC in subsequent periods and ensuring no eligible credit is left unaccounted for.
- Real-Time IMS Action and Tracking Through the Invoice Management System (IMS), the Forbes Marshall team can view vendor invoices in real time and take immediate actions such as accepting or rejecting invoices. This reduces dependency on manual tracking, improves reconciliation accuracy, and ensures maximum ITC realization with minimal loss.
The Results
97% ITC Availed Within the Same Month: With a structured monthly reconciliation process in place, Forbes Marshall now avails approximately 97% of eligible Input Tax Credit within the same month, reducing revenue leakage and improving cash flow predictability.
Near-Complete ITC Recovery Across Periods: Through the probable matching mechanism for unreconciled invoices, an additional approximately 2% of ITC is recovered in subsequent periods, ensuring that eligible credit is fully accounted for across reporting cycles.
Accurate and Timely GSTR-3B Filing: The table-wise ITC report has reduced preparation time and minimized the risk of reporting errors. Forbes Marshall’s team can now complete GSTR-3B filings accurately and efficiently, with a clear view of eligible ITC, reversals, and reclaim amounts at every stage.
Stronger Vendor Compliance Management: With clear visibility into vendor filing status, Forbes Marshall can proactively follow up with non-compliant vendors and make well-informed payment decisions, ensuring ITC availability is not compromised due to vendor non-compliance.
Reduced Manual Effort and Improved Reconciliation Accuracy: Real-time IMS capabilities have significantly reduced the team’s dependence on manual tracking. Timely invoice actions, combined with accurate reconciliation, have improved overall compliance efficiency and ensured maximum ITC realization with minimal loss.
Why Sovos India?
Forbes Marshall’s compliance requirements demanded more than periodic support; they required a structured, process-driven partnership capable of managing high volumes of invoices, reconciliation complexity, and evolving regulatory obligations on a consistent monthly basis. Sovos India delivered exactly this, providing end-to-end GST compliance support that integrated seamlessly into Forbes Marshall’s existing workflows and reporting cycles.
What distinguishes Sovos India is its ability to combine technology with hands-on expertise. From delivering table-wise ITC reports and probable matching suggestions to enabling real-time IMS actions and vendor compliance tracking, Sovos India provided Forbes Marshall with the tools and guidance needed to maintain accuracy, minimize ITC loss, and file returns with confidence. The result is a compliance function that is not only more efficient, but fundamentally more reliable making Sovos India a trusted partner in Forbes Marshall’s financial and regulatory operations.
“The solution is well-rounded and up-to-date with GST norms.”
“When it comes to GST Filing, I know I can rely on Sovos India. Filing monthly GST Returns- GSTR 1,3B, specific returns like ITC 04 and annual return – GSTR 9 including the entire reconciliation process, wouldn’t have been easier without the Sovos India Team. We are quite pleased with the product and the support provided. While the solution in itself is well-rounded and up-to-date with GST norms, the support provided by the team is prompt, reliable and 24×7. The support team has deservingly earned the gratitude. Cheers !”