Concessional customs benefit for EV kits denied where separately imported parts lacked the essential character of a complete vehicle.

Entry 318 of Notification No. 45/2025-Cus. applies only where electrically operated vehicles are imported in incomplete or unfinished form as a knocked down kit, with the imported goods as presented at import classifiable as a complete or substantially complete kit under heading 8703. Standalone products imported separately, at different times and in mismatched quantities, do not satisfy that description because they lack the essential character of a complete vehicle at the time of import. On that basis, the imported goods were held outside the scope of the concessional rate and the notification benefit was not available.

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Issues: Whether the imported individual products proposed to be used in manufacturing electric vehicles were covered by the concessional rate under Entry 318 of Notification No. 45/2025-Cus. dated 24.10.2025.

Analysis: The notification applied only where electrically operated vehicles were imported in an incomplete or unfinished form as a knocked down kit containing the necessary components, parts or sub-assemblies for assembling a complete vehicle. The concessional rate depended on the goods, as presented at import, answering the description of a kit classifiable under heading 8703 of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975. The imported goods were described as standalone, unconnected and separately imported products, received at different points in time and in mismatched quantities. They were not presented as a complete or substantially complete kit and did not, at the time of import, possess the essential character of a complete vehicle.

Conclusion: The conditions of Entry 318 were not satisfied and the imported goods were not eligible for the concessional notification benefit.

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