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Showing contexts for: iron ore processing in Commissioner Of Income Tax-Iv vs Delhi Press Patra Prakashan Ltd on 31 May, 2013Matching Fragments
57. The Supreme Court in the case of Commissioner of Income Tax v. SESA Goa Limited: (2004) 271 ITR 331 (SC) considered the question whether extraction and processing of iron ore amounted to manufacture or not in the context of availability of investment allowance under section 32(A) of the Act in respect of machinery used in the mining activity. In that case, revenue contended that processing of iron ore did not produce any new product and thus the benefit of Section 32(A) of the Act was not available to the assessee. As per section 32(A)(2)(b)(iii) of the Act, deduction on account of investment allowance is available to the assessee in respect of a plant owned by the assessee which is wholly used for the purpose of assessee's business in an industrial undertaking for the purposes of the business of "construction or manufacture or production of any article or thing". The Supreme Court noted that the meaning of the word production was defined only in the Oxford English Dictionary as "amongst other things that which is produced; a thing that results from any action, process or effort, a product; a product of human activity or effort" and this definition has been accepted by the Supreme Court in an earlier decision in the case of Chrestian Mica Industries Ltd. v. State of Bihar: [1961] 12 STC 150. The Court further held that the definition of the word 'production' was wide enough to include the production of mineral ores and ores would fall within the expression "a thing". Having held that the word "production" was much wider than manufacture, the Supreme Court felt that it was not necessary to examine the question whether the mined ore was commercially a new product. In the present context also, although we have held that in the facts of this case producing printed paper does amount to manufacture as a new article or a thing known to market comes into existence. It is not necessary that an industrial undertaking must manufacture a commercially new product in order to fulfill the condition as specified in Section 80-I(2)(iii) of the Act. Since, in any event production of any article or thing by an industrial undertaking would be sufficient to entitle the industrial undertaking to claim that the condition under Section 80-I(2)(iii) of the Act was fulfilled. Indisputably, printed paper falls within the meaning of the expression "an article or thing" and whether the same is marketable as new product is not relevant. The Supreme Court has also held in the case of N. C. Budharaja & Co. (supra) that by products, intermediate products and residual products that emerge in the case of manufacture are also to be included in the word 'production' or 'produce'. Thus, even if the printed material as produced by Unit Nos.2 & 3 is taken as an intermediate product which requires to be further bound for making it marketable, the word produce occurring in Section 80-I(2)(iii) of the Act would include it within its ambit.