Marketability governs excise duty on copper sheets and circles; evidence of sale supports duty liability despite captive consumption.

Marketability is the touchstone for central excise duty: goods are liable only if they are capable of being bought and sold in the market. The note explains that untrimmed copper sheets and circles were treated as marketable because the record showed they were in fact being sold, so capability of sale was established. It further states that mere captive consumption does not, by itself, negate marketability. The earlier Lohia Sheet Products ruling was distinguished on the ground that it turned on the absence of evidence of marketability.

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Issues: Whether untrimmed copper sheets and circles are marketable and, therefore, liable to central excise duty.

Analysis: Excise duty can be levied only on goods that are marketable. The earlier decision in Lohia Sheet Products was distinguished because it had turned on absence of evidence of marketability. On the facts here, the record showed that untrimmed copper sheets and circles were being sold in the market, which established that they were capable of being bought and sold. Mere captively consumed production does not, by itself, negate marketability.

Conclusion: The untrimmed copper sheets and circles were marketable and liable to excise duty, and the Revenue's appeal succeeded.

Ratio Decidendi: Marketability is satisfied where the goods are shown to be capable of sale in the market, and captively consumed production does not by itself render the goods non-marketable.

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