Simple assembly of cassette components is not manufacture when no new commercially distinct product emerges.

Simple assembly of imported magnetic tape, plastic covers and screws did not amount to manufacture because no new and commercially distinct article with a separate name, character or use emerged. The process was treated as mere putting together of constituent parts, so the excise duty demand based on manufacture failed. The same reasoning was applied to reject the theory that the goods had become a separately manufactured unassembled product, as the components remained the same constituent parts throughout the process.

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Issues: Whether assembly of magnetic tape and plastic covers amounts to manufacture under section 2(f) of the Central Excises and Salt Act, 1944, and whether the resulting blank video cassette tapes were liable to duty.

Analysis: Manufacture requires more than a mere change in form; a new and different article with a distinct name, character or use must emerge. On the facts, the magnetic tape, plastic cover and screws were imported as separate constituents and were only put together by simple assembly. No new commercially distinct commodity came into existence by that process. The same reasoning also negatived the customs demand based on the theory of unassembled condition, since the goods remained the same constituent parts and not a separately manufactured product.

Conclusion: Assembly of the video magnetic tape with plastic covers did not amount to manufacture. The duty demand on that basis failed, while the customs demand was upheld on the footing adopted by the authority.

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