Re-packing bulk detergent powder was not manufacture before the deeming fiction in Chapter 34 was inserted.

Re-packing bulk detergent powder into smaller packs did not amount to manufacture under Section 2(f) of the Central Excise Act, 1944 for the period before 28-2-1994. The decisive point was that Chapter Note 6 to Chapter 34, which later created a deeming fiction treating such re-packing as manufacture, had not yet been inserted for the relevant period. In the absence of that statutory fiction, the earlier position applied, namely that mere re-packing of bulk goods into smaller containers did not by itself constitute manufacture.

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Issues: Whether re-packing bulk detergent powder into smaller packs amounted to manufacture under Section 2(f) of the Central Excise Act, 1944 for the period prior to insertion of Chapter Note 6 in Chapter 34 of the Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985.

Analysis: The activity in dispute related to the period before 28-2-1994, when Chapter Note 6 was introduced to Chapter 34 creating a deeming fiction that re-packing into smaller containers would amount to manufacture. For the relevant period, no such deeming provision existed. In the absence of that statutory fiction, the earlier view that re-packing bulk goods into smaller packs did not by itself amount to manufacture governed the dispute.

Conclusion: Re-packing of bulk detergent powder into smaller packs did not amount to manufacture for the relevant period, and the appeal succeeded.

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