Assessable value for excise does not include optional installation and commissioning charges charged separately after clearance.

Installation and commissioning charges for electronic exchanges were treated as a separate, optional post-clearance arrangement and not part of the assessable value for Central Excise duty. The goods were cleared as complete equipment on payment of duty, there was no allegation of artificial splitting of sale value, and the work was performed at the buyer's premises after clearance. Because the same charges were also subjected to service tax and an earlier identical case had already excluded such consideration from assessable value, the duty demand on that amount was held unsustainable.

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Issues: Whether installation and commissioning charges collected for electronic exchanges cleared on payment of duty were includible in the assessable value for Central Excise duty.

Analysis: The activity of installation and commissioning was optional and constituted a separate arrangement from the supply of the excisable goods. The goods were cleared as complete equipment on payment of duty, and there was no allegation that the sale value had been artificially split between material and installation. The charges related to work done at the buyer's premises after clearance and were also subjected to service tax. The same appellant's earlier case on the identical issue had already held that consideration for installation and commissioning could not be added to the assessable value of the goods.

Conclusion: The installation and commissioning charges were not includible in the assessable value, and the demand of Central Excise duty on that amount was unsustainable.

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