Marketability as a condition for excisability defeats duty where the product's non-marketable character is not rebutted.

Marketability remained the decisive requirement for excisability: the product, described as a preparation of maltose and dextrose, was treated as hydrolysed starch from tapioca or maize starch, and that factual position was not rebutted. The departmental reliance on tariff classification, test reports and alleged sales did not establish marketability, especially because the asserted instability of the product and the distinction between solution form and powder form were left unanswered. Applying the settled principle and the earlier Wockhardt Ltd. decision on non-marketable maltodextrin solution, the product was treated as non-marketable and therefore not excisable, with the assessee's classification challenge succeeding.

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Issues: Whether the product, described as a preparation of maltose and dextrose, was marketable and hence excisable.

Analysis: The product was treated as hydrolysed starch obtained from enzymatic hydrolysis of tapioca or maize starch, and that factual position was not rebutted. The reasoning followed the settled principle that marketability is a necessary condition for excisability. The earlier decision in Wockhardt Ltd. was applied, where maltodextrin solution had been held non-marketable and therefore not excisable. The departmental reliance on the tariff classification, test report, and alleged sales did not establish marketability, particularly where the claimed instability of the product and the difference between solution form and powder form remained unrebutted.

Conclusion: The product was held to be non-marketable and therefore not excisable, so the assessee's classification challenge succeeded and the Revenue's appeal failed.

Final Conclusion: The impugned order was affirmed, and the appeal was rejected on the basis that marketability was not proved.

Ratio Decidendi: A product that is not shown to be marketable cannot be treated as excisable, even if the department asserts manufacture or tariff classification.

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