Redrawing wire from thicker to thinner gauge is not manufacture, so no central excise duty arises.

Drawing wire from 8mm coil-form wire to 7mm diameter and cutting it does not amount to manufacture for central excise purposes because the process does not create a new and distinct product. Under Chapter 74, wire is treated as distinct from rods or bars mainly by its form, and the input remained wire in coil form throughout. The reasoning follows earlier decisions that redrawing wire from a thicker gauge to a thinner gauge is only a change in size, not the emergence of a commercially new excisable commodity. No central excise duty is attracted on that basis.

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Issues: Whether drawing wire of 7mm diameter from 8mm coil-form wire and cutting it amounts to manufacture so as to attract central excise duty.

Analysis: The product received by the appellants was in coil form and, under Chapter 74, wire is distinct from rods/bars primarily by the form in which it exists. Since the material was admittedly in coil form, the process of redrawing it to a thinner gauge and cutting it did not bring into existence a new and distinct product. The reasoning followed earlier decisions holding that redrawing wire from a thicker gauge to a thinner gauge does not result in manufacture of a new excisable commodity.

Conclusion: The process does not amount to manufacture and no excise duty is attracted on that basis.

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