Thread: Indian Customs and Baggage Rules

Customs duty is applicable on everything. Exemptions are given by class of goods as per government directives. And certainly there are no exemptions for imports for personal use.

Originally Posted by just4kix

Customs duty is applicable on everything. Exemptions are given by class of goods as per government directives. And certainly there are no exemptions for imports for personal use.

Most probably ur going to get ur stuff from a distributor right .... so that does nt come under 'imports for personal use' ????

Plus when you are coming home from abroad, you are permitted to walk through the green channel if the cost of goods you are carrying is under a particular value.
Wouldn't a similar situation apply here ?

when i got my ipod from a friends relative in the us,quite a few things were cleared..
customs people have a limit on everything you can carry out of a country.per person:
1 laptop
2 mobiles
1 digital camera
1 music player

and so on...
this is what he told me.

My HDD has a shock proof case, was it the same one as urs ??? Black color with orange border ?

I get most of my stuff frm Singapore. I got my monitor (2 times) and Gfx card frm there. No1 asked me anything. In fact if u show ur bill in Singapore airport, they giv u a 7% cash rebate.

Oh ya.... u just tell them ur using it and its not new, they usually buy the excuse.

maybe its differnet for different countries..
and i have seen th black-orange transcend hdd.
the outer cover is very thin.is it really a shock protector??
it doesnt look like one.

Originally Posted by ShAdOwCoN

Most probably ur going to get ur stuff from a distributor right .... so that does nt come under 'imports for personal use' ????

Originally Posted by powerdoc

Plus when you are coming home from abroad, you are permitted to walk through the green channel if the cost of goods you are carrying is under a particular value.
Wouldn't a similar situation apply here ?

Originally Posted by ag_prasun

when i got my ipod from a friends relative in the us,quite a few things were cleared..
customs people have a limit on everything you can carry out of a country.per person:
1 laptop
2 mobiles
1 digital camera
1 music player

and so on...
this is what he told me.

Originally Posted by rajan1311

My HDD has a shock proof case, was it the same one as urs ??? Black color with orange border ?

I get most of my stuff frm Singapore. I got my monitor (2 times) and Gfx card frm there. No1 asked me anything. In fact if u show ur bill in Singapore airport, they giv u a 7% cash rebate.

Oh ya.... u just tell them ur using it and its not new, they usually buy the excuse.

You all are missing the point here. I was talking about, sitting here in India and ordering stuff from over the internet and importing in India.

The exemptions that you get when you return from abroad are for personal baggage allowance. When a distributor is importing, he is also paying import duties but he is being charged under a different class.

The personal baggage allowance is as follows:

Exempted
- max 2 litres of liquor (wine, whiskey, rum, etc.)
- max 200 cigarettes
- licensed firearm and upto 50 cartridges
- Gold/silver ornaments of personal use limited to a value
- one laptop

All others

• All bags can be opened
• All items that appear new (as per the discretion of the customs office) can be counted as an import
• Customs office will determine the value of each item
• All valuations will be totaled
• each person will be give a standard exemption as follows:
  
  • Person over 10 years age
    
    • A sum of Rs. 25000/- per person, if person is returning from a trip of more than 3 days
    • A sum of Rs. 12000/- per person, if person is returning from a trip of 3 days or less
  • Person under 10 years age
    
    • A sum of Rs. 6000/- per person, if person is returning from a trip of more than 3 days
    • A sum of Rs. 3000/- per person, if person is returning from a trip of 3 days or less
• For passengers from Nepal, Bhutan, Myanamar or China, the limits are different

Exhaustive rules here: BAGGAGE RULES

If you got thru customs earlier, walked thru green channel, no one stopped you in spite having lot of goods, this does not mean that rules have changed. It just means an indulgence on the part of the Customs Officer. It is not a waiver.

Trust me on this. After having flown in and out of the country at least three dozen times, from the year 1991, I should know.

Originally Posted by ag_prasun

when i got my ipod from a friends relative in the us,quite a few things were cleared..
customs people have a limit on everything you can carry out of a country.per person:
1 laptop
2 mobiles
1 digital camera
1 music player

and so on...
this is what he told me.

I came with 2 laptops (1 official & d other I bought it for my friend)....I wasn't asked a single question at the Chennai airport.

I think you can come with max 2 laptops,not sure...

Originally Posted by Rameshjeee

I came with 2 laptops (1 official & d other I bought it for my friend)....I wasn't asked a single question at the Chennai airport.

I think you can come with max 2 laptops,not sure...

i am also not sure ... but i also heard from one of my friends who recently returned from us .. that u can carry only one ...

if have not already bought the external hdd ... i would recommend to buy an internal laptop hdd of 250gb/320 gb... and buy an external casing of svb or techcom ... they really work fine and it will save u good amount of money ....

Originally Posted by rajan1311

??? Y have u started doing that ?

Any link to movie downloads will be deleted and will result in infraction. Forum rules clearly state that. Our site is hosted in US and they have very strict rules on websites providing links to warez/piracy. Whereas Mininova, Torrentz, etc. can do that (they are hosted outside USA), we cannot.

Originally Posted by Rameshjeee

I came with 2 laptops (1 official & d other I bought it for my friend)....I wasn't asked a single question at the Chennai airport.

I think you can come with max 2 laptops,not sure...

Originally Posted by saurav_kataruka

i am also not sure ... but i also heard from one of my friends who recently returned from us .. that u can carry only one ...

if have not already bought the external hdd ... i would recommend to buy an internal laptop hdd of 250gb/320 gb... and buy an external casing of svb or techcom ... they really work fine and it will save u good amount of money ....

As I stated in my previous post, read the Baggage Rules carefully. That is what is official. You may have got away two laptops, I myself got away with

• Nikon N70 SLR
• Nikon F4 SLR
• Tamron 28-105mm/f2.8 lens
• Nikon 70-300mm/f 4~5.6 EX Lens
• Nikon SB-286 flash
• Samsung P&S Film Camera

... all at once.
The last time I came back from Salt Lake City, the customs officer waved me off without even scanning my baggage. I mean, not even x-rayed. Just walked away with my two bags straight out.

But at other time, I had to pay duty on my HP-6200 AIO Photo Printer because the man pointed that this is not part of personal baggage and I cannot claim any exemption on it. So even though the printer was worth only Rs. 8000/- or so, I had to pay full duty at 40%. I negotiated a bit and he agreed for 20% because I showed some scratches and usage on it.

This is all indulgence on their part - and not a waiver. So take chances at your own risk.