Supreme Court to decide if 'Nimbooz' is lemonade or fruit juice based drink

Aradhana Foods submitted the petition, requesting that the drink be classified as lemonade rather than the present status of 'fruit pulp or fruit juice-based drink'. The petition is due to be heard by the Supreme Court in April. 

A Supreme Court court recently decided to assess whether the drink 'Nimbooz' may be categorised as 'Lemonade' and/or 'fruit pulp or fruit juice based beverages' for the purpose of calculating excise duty. The bench was led by Justices MR Shah and BV Nagarathna, and the case was submitted by a firm called Aradhana Foods, who wanted the drink to be classified as 'lemonade' rather than 'fruit pulp or fruit juice based drink.'

Nimbooz was formerly classified as a fruit juice-based drink by a bench of Justices Dilip Gupta and P. Venkata Subba Rao, and so fell under Tariff Item 2202 90 20 of the Central Excise Tariff.

The dispute has been ongoing since March 2015, and the Supreme Court's ruling will modify the classification of 'Nimbooz.'

Aradhana Foods submitted the petition, requesting that the drink be classified as lemonade rather than the present status of 'fruit pulp or fruit juice-based drink'. The petition is due to be heard by the Supreme Court in April. 

M/S Aradhana Foods has filed a petition to vacate that ruling, claiming that the drink falls under CETH 2022 10 20 of the First Schedule to the Central Excise Tariff Act 1985. From February 2009 until December 2013, the corporation was required to pay the duty as lemonade. PepsiCo introduced 'Nimbooz' in 2013, describing the drink as "made of genuine lemon juice with no fizz." This sparked a controversy regarding whether it should be classified as lemonade or fruit juice/fruit pulp-based drink.