The Supreme Court while dismissing the appeal of Nycil’s manufacturers held that the medical talcum powder which is used to treat prickly heat is a ‘cosmetic’ not a ‘medicament’.

The court said, as the cosmetics are taxed at a higher rate, the medical talcum powder has to face a higher tax.

The Kerala and Madras high court passed an order against the Nycil’s manufactures due to which the Nycli’s manufactures filed an appeal before the Supreme Court.

The starting lines of the order stated “The issue which this court has deal with has placed the courts in a prickly pickle on several occasions- whether medicated talcum powder is medicine or drug or a cosmetic, or in terms of the statutes in question, medicated talcum powder?”.