Page 84 - GSTL_13th August 2020_Vol 39_Part 2

170 GST LAW TIMES [ Vol. 39
Tobacco (other than tobacco leaves)’ are not defined in the Tariff, classification of
the commodity at various stages in the above specified heads may be a conten-
tious issue. He, therefore, sought for an Advance Ruling.
4. Activities of the applicant :
The applicant engages in the following activities as far as tobacco is con-
cerned :
(a) Purchase of the cured tobacco leaves brought by tobacco farmers at
the Tobacco Auction Platforms in case of FCV variety or directly
from farmers in case of Non-FCV variety’ of tobacco and selling
them to other dealers or exporters or manufacturers of tobacco.
(b) Purchase of the tobacco leaves from other dealers and sell them to
the clients within India and overseas.
(c) Threshing and redrying of the tobacco leaves in their threshing
premises and selling them to the clients in India and to export to
various countries.
(d) Engaging in threshing and redrying of tobacco leaves on job work
basis for other traders or manufacturers.
In the case of sale of tobacco leaves, the applicant may undertake the following
minimal process on the tobacco before supplying as per the requirement of the
dealer :
Grading :
The applicant may get an order from the buyers to grade the tobac-
co. In such cases, the applicant engages manual labour to segregate or
classify the tobacco leaves into various grades depending on their size
(width), length, colour or shade and other physical parameters of the
leaf. These activities will be performed manually by unskilled labour and
who will open the bale and separate the tobacco leaves to physically
grade the tobacco into different categories as stated above. The tobacco
leaves so graded, will again be packed into bales and wrapped in Jute
bags for onward supply to other tobacco dealers or manufacturers.
Butting :
The tobacco leaf when plucked from the plant will have a rough
edge on the side it attached to the plant. These rough edges may damage
other leaves or make packing difficult. Therefore, the edge of the tobacco
leaf, which is called butt of the leaf, is removed by manually chopping
them off. This will not alter any other character of the leaves. Butting is a
very rare and occasional requirement of the buyer and only 2 to 3% of
the total tobacco is ordered for butting. If the buyer requires the leaf to be
butted, the same is undertaken along with grading by manual labour
and then packed by wrapping jute bags.
Stripping/Steaming Process :
The graded tobacco leaves or the butted leaves are at this stage,
stripped wherein the stem portion of the Tobacco leaves is separated
from the leaf. The lamina portion and the woody portion i.e mid-rib
(stem) of tobacco leaf are to be separated as they are to be processed sep-
arately.
GST LAW TIMES  13th August 2020  84