Hair preparation classification turns on marketing and use, not a drug licence or herbal ingredients.

Shikakai Herbal Powder was treated as a hair preparation under Chapter sub-heading 3305.90 because its marketing, packaging and literature showed use for cleansing and beautifying hair, not treatment of disease. Chapter Note 2 of Chapter 33 was applied to goods put up as cosmetics or toilet preparations with only subsidiary curative value, and the presence of herbal ingredients or a drug licence did not determine excise classification. The assessee's reliance on an earlier Supreme Court decision was distinguished on facts, and a similar Tribunal view on hair products was followed, leaving the product outside Ayurvedic medicament classification under 3003.30 and outside the claimed notification benefit.

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Issues: Whether the product Shikakai Herbal Powder was classifiable as an ayurvedic medicament under Chapter sub-heading 3003.30 or as a preparation for use on the hair under Chapter sub-heading 3305.90, and whether it was entitled to the benefit of Notification No. 9/93.

Analysis: The product was found to be marketed and used for cleansing and beautifying the hair, with its packaging and literature indicating use on hair rather than use as a medicine for treatment of disease. The product was not shown, on the evidence, to be prescribed or sold as a curative medicament. Chapter Note 2 of Chapter 33 applied to products put up as cosmetics or toilet preparations, including goods held out as having only subsidiary curative or prophylactic value. The fact that the product was manufactured under a drug licence and contained herbal ingredients was held not to be ative for excise classification. The earlier Supreme Court ruling relied on by the assessee was distinguished on facts, while the Tribunal's reasoning in a similar hair-product case was followed.

Conclusion: The product was held classifiable under Chapter sub-heading 3305.90 and not under 3003.30, and the assessee was not entitled to classification as claimed.

Final Conclusion: The departmental appeal succeeded and the order of the appellate authority was reversed, with the product treated as a hair preparation falling under Chapter 33.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a product is marketed and presented for use on the hair, and the evidence shows only cosmetic or toiletry use with at most subsidiary curative attributes, it is classifiable under Chapter 33 rather than as a medicament, and the existence of a drug licence does not control excise classification.

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