Manufacture, not resale, applies where unfinished cupboards are finished into saleable goods by painting and fitting accessories.

Finishing unfinished cupboards by painting them and fitting handles, locks and mirrors constituted manufacture under the Gujarat Sales Tax Act because the statutory definition covered altering, finishing and processing goods. The Tribunal found the skeleton cupboards had no marketability in that form and became saleable only after the assessee carried out the finishing operations, which were substantial rather than nominal. The activity therefore fell outside resale, since resale requires sale of goods in the same form or without doing anything that amounts to manufacture. The assessee was not entitled to treat the transaction as resale.

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Issues: Whether finishing unfinished cupboards by painting them and fixing handles, locks and mirrors amounts to manufacture under the Gujarat Sales Tax Act, 1969, or only resale so as to entitle the assessee to the claimed deduction.

Analysis: The statutory definition of manufacture is wide and includes producing, making, altering, ornamenting, finishing and otherwise processing goods. The definition of resale requires sale of purchased goods in the same form or without doing anything that amounts to or results in manufacture. On the Tribunal's findings, the so-called skeleton cupboards had no marketability in that form and could be sold only after the assessee carried out the finishing operations of painting and fitting the accessories. Those operations were not nominal or insignificant, because they transformed an unfinished skeleton into a saleable cupboard.

Conclusion: The activity constituted manufacture and not mere resale, so the assessee was not entitled to claim the transaction as resale.

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