Market identity test preserves exemption when additives do not change the vegetable product's classification or essential character.

Vegetable product retained exemption under Notification No. 115/86 where 5% til oil and Vitamin A were added after hydrogenation. The determining test was whether the goods continued to be known in the market as the same vegetable product and remained under the same tariff heading. Because the addition did not create a different product or alter its essential market identity, the full quantity, including the added til oil, remained eligible for exemption. The notification benefit was therefore preserved for the entire product.

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Issues: Whether vegetable product remained eligible for exemption under Notification No. 115/86 when 5% til oil and Vitamin A were added after hydrogenation, and whether such addition required exclusion of that quantity from the exempted product.

Analysis: The relevant notification defined vegetable product as vegetable oil or fat which, by hydrogenation or any other process, had been hardened for human consumption. The deciding factor was whether the product continued to be known in the market as the same vegetable product and remained classifiable under the same heading. The addition of til oil and Vitamin A after hardening did not bring about a different product; the essential market identity and classification of the goods remained unchanged.

Conclusion: The entire quantity of the product, including the added til oil, was eligible for exemption and the assessee was entitled to the benefit of the notification.

Final Conclusion: The impugned order was set aside and the appeal was accepted.

Ratio Decidendi: For exemption and classification purposes, a product that continues to retain its market identity and same tariff classification does not lose the benefit of the notification merely because oil or additives are incorporated after the manufacturing process.

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