Commercial meaning of textile: braided cord was held to fall within the exemption entry for textiles.

Braided cord was treated as a textile within entry 4 of the Third Schedule to the Madras General Sales Tax Act, 1959, because the entry uses broad language covering all varieties of textiles and includes illustrative items such as handkerchiefs, towels, niwars and laces. The determining test was the ordinary commercial meaning of textile, and braided cord, made by braiding threads into an interlocking form, satisfied that description. The narrower argument that it must qualify only as "laces" was rejected, since that word was used in its common ornamental sense. The schedule exclusions did not cover braided cord, so it remained entitled to exemption from sales tax.

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Issues: Whether braided cord falls within entry 4 in the Third Schedule of the Madras General Sales Tax Act, 1959 as a variety of textile and is therefore exempt from sales tax.

Analysis: The entry uses broad language covering all varieties of textiles and gives illustrative inclusions such as handkerchiefs, towels, napkins, tapes, niwars and laces. The deciding factor is whether braided cord is a textile in its ordinary commercial sense. The Court held that braided cord, being a product made by braiding threads into a woven or interlocking form, answers the description of a textile. The narrower suggestion that it must qualify as "laces" was rejected, since that word in the entry was used in its common ornamental sense and not in the unusual sense of a fastening cord. The excluded articles in the schedule did not cover braided cord.

Conclusion: Braided cord is covered by entry 4 as a textile and is entitled to exemption.

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