Circular No. 841/18/2006-CX-Ready to eat and packaged Namkeens, Bhujia etc. falling under tariff item 2106 90 99 of the Central Excise Tariff, whether eligible for full exemption under Sr. No. 29 of notification no. 3/2006-CE dated 1.3.2006 or attract 8% duty under Sr. No. 30 of the said notification.

Ready to eat and packaged Namkeens, Bhujia etc. falling under tariff item 2106 90 99 of the Central Excise Tariff, whether eligible for full exemption under Sr. No. 29 of notification no. 3/2006-CE dated 1.3.2006 or attract 8% duty under Sr. No. 30 of the said notification.- I am directed to say that references have been received from field formation seeking clarification as to whether ready to eat packaged food items like namkeen, bhujia etc. are eligible for full exemption or are liable to 8% excise duty under notification No. 3/2006-CE dated 1.3.2006. Sr. No. 29 and Sr. No.30 of the notification No. 3/2006-CE grant following exemptions:

S. No.	Chapter or heading or sub-heading or tariff item of the First Schedule	Description of excisable goods	Rate	Condition No.
(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)
29.	2106 90	Sweetmeats (known as ‘misthans’ or ‘mithai’ or by any other name), namkeens, bhujia, mixture, chabena and similar edible preparations in ready for consumption form, papad and jal jeera	Nil	-
30.	2106 90 99	Ready to eat packaged food	8%	-

2. Further, the supplementary Chapter Note 6 of Chapter 21 of the Central Excise Tariff reads as under:

6. Tariff item 2106 90 99 includes sweet meats commonly known as “Misthans” or

“Mithai” or called by any other name. They also include products commonly known as

“Namkeens”, “mixtures”, “Bhujia”, “Chabena” or called by any other name. Such products remain classified in these sub-headings irrespective of the nature of their ingredients.

It is noticed that doubts have been expressed in view of the fact that the goods like ready to eat packaged namkeen,bhujia,etc, conform to the description provided at both Sr. Nos. 29 and 30 of the notification no. 3/2006-CE dated 1.3.2006. A question arises as to whether such goods would attract nil rate of duty under Sr. No. 29 or 8% duty under Sr. No. 30.

3. The matter has been examined .As the same items fall under two entries of the notification, the exemption of nil rate of duty would be available to goods covered by Sr. No. 29 of notification No. 3/2006-CE dated 1.3.2006 , even when the said goods are also covered by Sr. No.30.

4. However, if the goods are ‘ready to eat packaged food’ falling under tariff item 2106 90 99 but which are not covered by the description provided at Sr. No. 29 of the notification, then the effective rate of duty will be 8% as provided at Sr. No. 30 of the notification.