Manufacture requires a commercially distinct product; converting M.S. round bars into bright bars was not enough for excise duty.

Drawing M.S. round bars through a narrower diameter to produce bright bars was held not to constitute manufacture because a process amounts to manufacture only when it creates a commercially distinct and different commodity. Mere change in form or shape is insufficient without evidence that the goods are regarded as different in the commercial market. On that reasoning, bright bars were not treated as a new excisable product, and the excise duty demand could not be sustained.

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Issues: Whether conversion of M.S. round bars into bright bars amounts to manufacture and makes the resultant goods exigible to excise duty.

Analysis: The conversion process involved drawing round bars through a slight narrow diameter. The governing principle applied was that mere change in form or shape does not amount to manufacture unless the process brings into existence a new commodity having a distinct identity in the commercial sense. In the absence of material showing that round bars and bright bars are regarded as different in the commercial circle, the transformation could not be treated as manufacture.

Conclusion: The process of converting M.S. round bars into bright bars did not amount to manufacture and the demand of excise duty could not be sustained.

Ratio Decidendi: A process results in manufacture only when it brings into existence a commercially distinct and different commodity; a mere change in form or shape, without evidence of such distinctiveness, is insufficient.

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