Service tax liability on process amounting to manufacture

Your query bears the answer. Any process amounting to manufacturing is out of the service tax net.

Thanks for reply. But query is that whether service tax is not payable even if area based excise duty exemption has been to our customer (pricipal manufacturer).

If you refer to the Education Guide 4.6.2 it says if central duty is leviable on a particular process as the same amounts to manufacture then such process will be covered under the negative list even if there is excise duty exemption.