Mixing and filling gases into cylinders is not manufacture absent a new, distinct marketable commodity.

Mixing and filling gases into cylinders did not amount to manufacture for central excise purposes because the process caused no chemical reaction, no change in essential composition, and no emergence of a new, distinct marketable commodity with a different name, character or use. The mere use of specialised plant and machinery was not conclusive. In the absence of evidence that the mixture became a separate commercial product, the activity fell outside the meaning of manufacture under excise law.

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Issues: Whether mixing and filling of gases in cylinders amounted to manufacture exigible to central excise duty.

Analysis: The process involved filling different gases, including inert gases, into a single cylinder without any chemical reaction or change in their essential composition. The record did not show that the mixture emerged in the market as a new and distinct commodity having a different name, character or use from the constituent gases. Mere use of specialised plant and machinery was not conclusive of manufacture. In the absence of material establishing a distinct commercial product, the process could not be treated as manufacture within the meaning of the excise law.

Conclusion: The issue was decided in favour of the assessee, and the activity of mixing and filling the gases did not amount to manufacture.

Ratio Decidendi: A process amounts to manufacture only when it brings into existence a new, distinct and identifiable commodity with a different commercial identity, and mere physical mixing or packing without such change does not satisfy that test.

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