Own-brand goods treated as branded goods under excise exemption rules, defeating the small-scale exemption claim.

Goods manufactured and sold under an assessee's own brand name were treated as branded goods for exemption under Notification No. 08/2001-C.E. The notification's definition of "brand name" covered any name or mark used in relation to the goods to indicate a trade connection, whether or not registered, and did not limit the term to a third-party mark. The assessee's use of "Crane Gutkha" therefore brought the goods within the branded category. The reference to the brand name of "other person" in another part of the notification was relevant only for calculating aggregate clearances, not for deciding whether the goods were branded. Exemption was denied.

---

---

Issues: Whether goods manufactured and sold under the assessee's own brand name could be treated as unbranded for the purpose of claiming exemption under Notification No. 08/2001-C.E. dated 01.03.2001.

Analysis: The notification exempted certain clearances for small scale units, but specifically excluded goods falling under Chapter 24 of the First Schedule to the Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985 except unbranded chewing tobacco and preparations containing chewing tobacco. The notification also defined "brand name" broadly to include any name or mark used in relation to the specified goods to indicate a connection in the course of trade, whether or not registered and without limiting it to a third-party mark. Since the assessee sold the product under the name "Crane Gutkha", the goods were manufactured and cleared under a brand name. The distinction drawn by the assessee between its own brand and a third-party brand was held to be unsupported by the notification. The reference in another paragraph of the notification to brand name of "other person" was held relevant only for computation of aggregate value of clearances and not for determining whether the goods were branded.

Conclusion: Goods sold under the assessee's own brand name were held to be branded goods and not entitled to exemption under Notification No. 08/2001-C.E. The assessee's claim to treat such goods as unbranded was rejected, and the Revenue succeeded.

---