Dispute concerned entitlement to deduction under Section 80IC...

Dispute concerned entitlement to deduction under Section 80IC for an Uttarakhand unit: tribunal held the unit's conversion of electrical steel into graded laminations and assembly of an integrated cooling module amounted to 'manufacture' because a commercially distinct commodity with distinct end-use emerged, applying the distinct-commodity test. Prior precedents on transformation and design supported manufacture. The tribunal found no evidence that the unit was formed by splitting-up or reconstruction of existing business and inter-unit transfers were at arm's length; consequently the unit met the conditions of Section 80IC(2)(a) and was not barred by Section 80IC(4)(i), and the assessing officer's disallowance was deleted.

---