‘Soft serve’ provided by McDonalds is ice cream for the purposes of excise – SC

The assessee has averred that ‘soft serve’ cannot be regarded as ice- cream since the former is marketed and sold around the world as ‘soft serve’. We do not see any merit in this averment. The manner in which a product may be marketed by a manufacturer, does not necessarily play a decisive role in affecting the commercial understanding of such a product. What matters is the way in which the consumer perceives the product at the end of the day notwithstanding marketing strategies. Needless to say the common parlance test operates on the standard of an average reasonable...