TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2022 (2) TMI 716
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....e Advance Ruling No. AAR No.16/AP/GST/2021 dated 07.07.2021 issued by the Authority for Advance Ruling, Andhra Pradesh. 1. Background of the Case: 1.1 The Appellant, M/s Foods and Inns Limited is a Public Limited Company, engaged in the business of supplying of mango pulp/puree within India including merchant export. The manufacturing process of mango pulp/puree is detailed hereunder: The Appellant procures selected varieties of fresh mango fruits and transport them to the fruit processing plant. The fruits are inspected, graded, washed and sent to the controlled ripening chambers. The fully Ripened Mango Fruits are then washed, blanched, pulped, deseeded, centrifuged, homogenized, and thermally processed. The preparation process includes cutting, de-stoning, refining and packing. The refined pulp/puree is packed in cans, hermetically sealed and retorted. Such extracted Mango Pulp/Puree will be sold by the applicant. 1.2. The Appellant sought clarification with regard to classification of the product and the rate payable thereon. The Appellant had filed an application for Advance Ruling before the Authority for Advance Ruling on the following questions: Questio....
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....liable to be classified under 2007 9910. b. Further, Chapter Heading 2007 includes products obtained by cooking including purees. The Appellant draws attention to Chapter Note 5 to Chapter 20, according to which the expression- "obtained by cooking" means obtained by heat treatment at atmospheric pressure or under reduced pressure to increase the viscosity of a product through reduction of water content or other means. In the instant case, the pulp is heated through a temperature of 60 to 80 degrees for increasing the viscosity and thus, the process is nothing but cooking. c. The Appellant further submits that technically there is no difference between puree and pulp. In this connection, the Appellant draws attention to Office Memorandum dated 6th October, 2021 issued by the Ministry of Food Processing Industries, which clarifies that Mango Pulp and Puree are one and the same, classified under Chapter 2007. 2.3 In the impugned order, it was contended that mango pulp/puree is fruit paste and thus, Chapter Heading 2007 is not applicable to the present case. In response to the above, the Appellant submits the following: • The contention of the origina....
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....51 of 1975). (iv) The rules for the interpretation of the First Schedule to the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 (51 of 1975), including the Section and Chapter Notes and the General Explanatory Notes of the First Schedule shall, so far as may be, apply to the interpretation of this notification." Therefore, while the Rate Notification under GST provides the rate of tax on goods and services, in order to interpret these Rate Notifications for purposes of levy of GST, one has to read the same along with the First Schedule (including the Section and Chapter Notes and General Explanatory Notes) of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 ("Tariff"). Each Section and Chapter under the Tariff is accompanied by the notes known as `Section Notes' and 'Chapter Notes'. Classification is to be determined only on the basis of description of the heading read with relevant section or Chapter notes. Coming to the product 'Mango Pulp/Puree', it finds place under chapter heading no. 0804 5040 of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975. Chapter 8 Tariff Item Description of goods 0804 Dates, figs, pineapples, avocados, mangoes, and mangosteens, fresh or dried. 0804 50 Gua....
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....lature of the product, this authority does not differ with the above opinion. But, the Memo cited has been issued for a different purpose, not on the classification of the product or it's chapter heading. The claim of the appellant in this regard stating that clarification has been issued on the tariff code of the product is out of place. 4B Rate of duty applicable on the Mango Pulp: 4.3 In paragraph 2B the Appellant claims that the product is classifiable under Chapter Heading 2007 and consequently, chargeable to GST @ 12% in terms of SI.No.39 of Schedule II to Notification No.1/2017-CT (Rate) dated 28-6-2017. Now we examine the applicable rate of tax for the product 'Mango Pulp' in GST tariff notifications. There are three entries related to 'Mangoes and Mango Products' that find a mention at various schedules, with different tax rates in the tariff notification, (i) The entry No.51 of 0804 of the above notification reads as, 0804 "Dates, figs, pineapples, avocados, guavas, mangoes and mangosteens, fresh." The above entry exempts only fresh mangoes from being exigible to tax. It is worthwhile to mention in this context, that there is....