Manufacture under sales tax law requires a commercially different commodity; mere repair of old drums is not manufacture.

Repairing old drums by removing dents and leakages did not amount to manufacture under section 2(17) of the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1959 because the process did not create a commercially different commodity. The repaired drums remained commercially the same as the original drums, so mere repair or reconditioning was insufficient to attract manufacture-based tax treatment. The analysis distinguished the Factories Act as a social welfare statute with a broader, express treatment of certain processes as manufacturing processes, unlike the sales tax statute. On that basis, the turnover provision did not change the conclusion, and the answer was in favour of the assessee.

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Issues: Whether repairing old drums by removing dents and leakages amounted to manufacture under section 2(17) of the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1959, and whether the repaired drums became a different commercial commodity for the purposes of tax treatment.

Analysis: The definition of manufacture, though wide, was held to require that the activity must result in a different commercial article or commodity. Mere repair of old drums did not bring into existence a commercially different commodity, and the repaired drums remained commercially the same as the old drums. The reasoning distinguished authorities under the Factories Act because that enactment was a social welfare statute and expressly treated certain processes, including repair-related processes, as manufacturing processes, unlike the sales tax statute. On the facts, the repaired drums could not be treated as manufactured goods, and the turnover question under section 10(1) also did not alter that conclusion.

Conclusion: Repairing old drums did not amount to manufacture under section 2(17) of the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1959, and the answer was in favour of the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: An activity amounts to manufacture under the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1959 only if it results in a commercially different commodity; mere repair or reconditioning of goods that remain commercially the same is not manufacture.

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