Excise Duty exemption not available to SSI for goods carrying brands of other companies

The Supreme Court has dismissed the appeal of Unison Electronics (P) Ltd against the ruling of the Customs, Excise & Service Tribunal (CESTAT) that denied excise duty exemption for goods which carried brand names of other companies. Under a central government notification, small scale industries were provided exemption in excise duty, but not those units which bore brand name or trade name of other companies. In this case, the company manufactured ice cream makers and popcorn makers and sold them to different customers. When the excise supervisors checked the goods dispatched from the factory, some carried stickers with other companies’ names. The officials treated them as brand names belonging to other companies and denied benefits under the small scale exemption notification. The SSI maintained that they were not brand names but names of the companies. This argument was rejected by the Commissioner of Excise and CESTAT. The SSI’s appeal to the Supreme Court was also not successful.