Value" does not also include, subject to such rules as may be made, trade discount

allowed in accordance with the normal practice of the wholesale trade at the time of
removal of such goods. To qualify as a trade discount, the discount should not be
refundable on any account whatsoever,"Wholesale trade" means sales to dealers,
industrial consumers, government, local authorities and other buyers who purchase their
requirements otherwise than in retail.

Inasmuch as it is agreed before us by all the parties - with which submission we are in
agreement - that the law enunciated by this Court in Bombay Tyre International
represents the correct interpretation of Section 4, both old and new, we do not think it
necessary either to refer to the decisions of the Privy Council or of this Court referred to
above. Indeed all the relevant decisions rendered till then have been considered in the said
decision. We shall, therefore, proceed to ascertain the principles enunciated in the said
decision.

The main issue, referred to as "central issue", in that case was "whether the value of an
article for the purposes of the excise levy must be determined by reference exclusively to
the manufacturing cost and the manufacturing profit of the manufacturer or should be
represented by the entire wholesale charged by the manufacture." This question arose in
the context of the fact that "the wholesale price actually charged by the manufacturer
consists of not merely his manufacturing cost and his manufacturing profit but includes,
in addition, a whole range of expenses and an element of profit (conveniently referred to
as "post-manufacturing expenses" and "post-manufacturing profit") arising between the
completion of the manufacturing process and the point of sale by the manufacturer." The
contention of Sri N.A. Palkhivala, learned counsel for the assessees was that the duty of
excise has three essential characterstics, viz., (1) it is a tax on manufacture or production
and not on any thing else; (ii) uniformity of incidence is a basic characterstic of the duty
of excise; and