Mere packing and relabelling of distinct goods does not amount to manufacture unless a commercially different commodity emerges.

Mere packing of separately purchased glass bottles, rubber nipples and plastic caps in a carton and selling them as an "auto feeder" did not amount to manufacture under section 2(17) of the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1959. Manufacture requires a process such as producing, making, altering, finishing or otherwise processing or adapting the goods so that a commercially different commodity emerges. Here, the items were neither modified nor altered; they were only selected, packed together and relabelled, and each retained its separate identity. The activity therefore fell short of manufacture, and the finding was in favour of the assessee.

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Issues: Whether purchasing glass bottles, rubber nipples and plastic caps, putting them together in a carton and selling them as an "auto feeder" amounts to manufacture within section 2(17) of the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1959.

Analysis: Manufacture under section 2(17) requires more than sale of the same goods under a different label or trade name. The decisive test is whether, by producing, making, extracting, altering, ornamenting, finishing or otherwise processing, treating or adapting the goods, a commercially different commodity comes into being. On the facts, the three items were neither modified nor altered. They were only selected, packed together and sold under a different name. Such packing and relabelling did not amount to adaptation or processing, and the goods did not lose their separate identity as distinct articles.

Conclusion: The activity did not amount to manufacture within section 2(17) of the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1959, and the finding was in favour of the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: Mere packing of separately purchased goods and selling them under a different label or trade name does not constitute manufacture unless the process brings into existence a commercially different commodity through alteration, processing or adaptation of the goods.

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