Ayurvedic product classification under excise law turns on common parlance, authoritative texts, and primary medicinal use.

Ayurvedic product classification under the Central Excise Tariff turned on the twin test of common parlance and whether the ingredients were recognised in authoritative Ayurvedic texts. The analysis considered primary use, market understanding, licensing records, consumer and practitioner evidence, and the opinion of the Directorate of Ayurveda. On that material, the Revenue failed to rebut the assessee's evidence or discharge the burden of proving a different classification. Most products were treated as medicinal preparations for skin or hair ailments and placed under Chapter 30, while massage oils and scalp tonic powder were treated as cosmetics under Chapter 33 because their medicinal character was not sufficiently established.

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Issues: Whether the Ayurvedic products manufactured by the assessee were classifiable as medicaments under Chapter 30 of the Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985 or as cosmetics under Chapter 33, and whether the individual products had to be classified differently on the basis of their use and ingredients.

Analysis: Classification depended on the twin test of common parlance and whether the ingredients were mentioned in authoritative Ayurvedic texts. The relevant approach was to see the primary use of the product, its understanding in the market, and the materials placed by the assessee, including Ayurvedic texts, licensing records, consumer and practitioner evidence, and the opinion of the Directorate of Ayurveda. The Revenue failed to rebut this material or discharge the burden of proving the correct classification. Chapter 33 dealt with goods whose curative or prophylactic value was merely subsidiary, while Chapter 30 excluded only those preparations that were in substance Chapter 33 goods. Applying these principles, most of the products were found to be medicinal preparations intended to treat skin or hair ailments. The remaining products, namely the massage oils and scalp tonic powder, were treated as cosmetics because they lacked sufficient medicinal character on the evidence and were conceded not to qualify as medicaments.

Conclusion: Most of the products were held to be medicaments classifiable under Chapter 30, while the three remaining products were classifiable as cosmetics under Chapter 33 and the duty issue for those products was remitted for quantification.

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