Assessable value excludes transport-specific packing charges when packing is needed only for railway shipment, not factory-gate sale.

Packing charges are includible in assessable value only when the packing is necessary to make the goods marketable for sale in the wholesale market at the factory gate. Special P-41 packing used solely to satisfy railway transport requirements was not essential for sale at the factory gate, and its character was not changed because the transporter required it or the cost was recovered from the buyer. On that basis, such railway-specific packing charges were excluded from assessable value.

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Issues: Whether P-41 packing charges incurred for goods transported by railway and undertaken in compliance with railway requirements were includible in the assessable value of the excisable goods.

Analysis: Packing is includible only when it is necessary for putting the goods in the wholesale market at the factory gate. The special P-41 packing in question was adopted only for railway transport and was not necessary for sale of the goods at the factory gate. The fact that the packing was required by the transporter or recovered from the buyer did not change its character. The same issue had also been decided earlier by the Tribunal in the same manner, and there was no reason to depart from that view.

Conclusion: The P-41 packing charges were not includible in the assessable value and the Revenue's appeals failed.

Final Conclusion: Packing charges incurred solely for railway transport and not required for making the goods marketable at the factory gate do not form part of the assessable value.

Ratio Decidendi: Only the cost of packing necessary for sale of the goods in the wholesale market at the factory gate is includible in assessable value; packing required exclusively for transportation is excluded.

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