Raw Material - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition raw-material

Definition :

Raw material, as commonly understood, is used in the process of manufacture. Printing machinery will certainly not come under the category of 'raw material', Re KI Kosalram, AIR 1968 Mad 113.

Raw material, defined one of the valid tests could be that the ingredient should be so essential for the chemical process culminating in the emergence of the desired end product, that having regard to its importance in and indispensability for the process, it could be said that its very consumption on burning up is its quality and value as raw materials, Collector of Central Excise, New Delhi v. Ballarpur Industries Ltd., AIR 1990 SC 196.

Raw material, is something from which another new or distinct commodity can be produced. When it is used in a taxing statute, it may have related meaning depending on the context in which it has been used, Tata Engineering & Locomotive Company Ltd. v. State of Bihar, (1996) 6 SCC 479.

The expression 'raw-material' is not a defined term. The meaning to be given to it is the ordinary and well accepted connotation in the common parlance of those who deal with the matter. The ingredients used in the chemical technology of manufacture of any end product might comprise, amongst others, of those which may retain their dominant individual identity and character throughout the process and also in the end product; those which, as a result of interaction with other chemicals or ingredients, might themselves undergo chemical or qualitative changes and in such altered form find themselves in the end product; those which, like catalytic agents, while influencing and accelerating the chemical reactions, however, may themselves remain uninfluenced and unaltered and remain independent of and outside the end products and those, as here, which might be burnt up or consumed in the chemical reactions, Collector of Central Excise v. Ballarpur Industries Ltd., AIR 1990 SC 196 (200): (1989) 4 SCC 566: (1989) Supp
(1) SCR 323. [Central Excise Rules, 1944, R. 8(1)]

(ii) The expression 'raw material' is not a defined term. The ingredient should be so essential for the chemical processes culminating in the emergence of the desired end product, Collector of Central Excise v. Ballarpur Industries Ltd., AIR 1990 SC 196: (1989) 4 SCC 566: (1989) Supp 1 SCR 323. [Central Excise Rules, 1944, R. 8(1)]

The word 'raw material' has to be understood in the ordinary and well-accepted connotation of it in the common parlance of the persons who deal with it. According to dictionary, it means 'something which is used for manufacturing or producing the goods'. The ordinary common sense understanding of it is that it is something from which another new or distinct commodity can be produced, TELCO v. State of Bihar, (1994) 6 SCC 479 (483).