In re Flint Group India Private Limited (GST AAR Gujarat)
The applicant has submitted that their product, ‘Technical varnish’, “Medium’ or ‘tinting ink’ should not be treated anything other than printing ink. The ‘Printing ink’ manufactured and supplied by them fall under Chapter Heading 3215 of GST Tariff. The Tariff Heading 3215 reads as follows:-
“All Goods, including printing ink, writing or drawing ink and other inks, whether or not concentrated or solid, fountain pen ink, ball pen ink”
We find that the Tariff Heading 3215 covers all Goods, including printing ink, writing or drawing ink and other inks, whether or not concentrated or solid, fountain pen ink, ball pen ink. As the ‘Varnishes’ are different than “Printing ink” and are specifically covered under Tariff Heading 3208, the same do not fall under Tariff Heading 3215.
We also find that during the erstwhile Central Excise regime, in excise returns, they had classified their manufacturing items, “Printing ink (both black & others)” under Chapter sub-heading no. 3215 11 90; “Medium” under Chapter sub-heading no. 3208 90 11; and “Varnish” under Chapter subheading no. 3209 10 10.
In view of the foregoing, we rule that HSN code for the product “Technical Varnish”/ “Medium” is 3208.
