Defination of Excisable goods under Excise Law :

It means goods specified in the first and second schedule to the Central Excise Tariff Act,1985 as being subject to a duty of excise and includes salt(section 2(d ) ).

Explanation to section 2(d ) provides that ‘goods’ includes any article material or substance which is being capable of bought and sold for a consideration and such goods shall be deemed to be marketable…

Therefore, two conditions are to be satisfied for excisable goods.

(i)   Firstly, the goods must be specified in the first or second schedule to the CETA,1985.

(ii ) Secondly ,the goods so specified must be subject to duty as per the tariff. The goods which are not covered in the schedules are referred to as non-excisable goods.

Note- ‘NIL’ Rate of duty in tariff is also a rate of duty and such goods cannot be treated as non-excisable. Thus , Nil rated goods are also excisable goods as held by SC in case of CCEx v. Vazir Sultan Tobacco Co. Ltd.(1996) 83 ELT 3 (sc )