Duty free allowance in India raised for expatriates and foreigners

Passengers from any country other than China, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar can bring goods worth Rs45,000

Image Credit: Abdel-Krim Kallouche/Gulf News Archives

Dubai: Indian expatriates and foreigners entering India will now have to declare Indian currency exceeding Rs25,000 (approximately Dh1,409) and LCD, LED or plasma televisions being brought by them in the new customs declaration forms, the Indian Finance Ministry said.

According to the new rules, the duty free allowance on cigarettes, cigars and tobacco has been reduced by 50 per cent.

Also, passengers of Indian origin and foreigners over 10 years of age residing in India and coming from any country other than China, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar can bring goods worth Rs45,000 along with them. Earlier, this limit was Rs35,000.
All passengers coming to India will need to declare Indian currency exceeding Rs25,000, said the Customs Baggage Declaration (Amendment) Regulations, 2015, notified on Tuesday by the Finance Ministry.

Earlier, they were supposed to declare any amount exceeding Rs10,000 being brought by them. An additional field has also been inserted in the ‘Indian Customs Declaration Form’, which needs to be mandatorily filled by all passengers entering India, to declare any flat panel (LCD, LED or Plasma) televisions being brought by them.

The form presently has fields for declaration of dutiable and prohibited goods, gold jewellery and bullion (over free allowance), satellite phone and foreign currency notes exceeding $5,000 or equivalent.

The passengers also need to mention meat, meat products, fish, dairy and poultry products, seeds, plants, fruits, flowers, other planting material and aggregate value of foreign exchange, including currency exceeding $10,000 or equivalent, in the existing customs form.

Cigarette allowance cut

Further, they have to report to the ‘Red Channel’ for payment of duty if they are carrying any such items.

The new rules have also reduced by 50 per cent the duty free allowance of cigarettes to 100 sticks, 25 cigars and 150gm of tobacco being brought by passengers. At present, a passenger can bring 200 number of cigarettes, 50 cigars and 250 gms of tobacco.

Passengers of Indian origin and foreigners over 10 years of age residing in India and coming from China, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar can bring in duty-free goods worth Rs6,000 only.

However, they get duty free allowance of Rs35,000 if they are coming from countries other than these four countries. This limit has been increased to Rs45,000, the new rules said.

As per the modified immigration and customs rules, an Indian citizen needs to fill up the immigration form only when he or she goes out of the country. They do not need to fill the form while returning from abroad. All passengers coming to India need to fill up a separate Indian Customs Declaration Form.

A passenger also requires to give details of the countries being visited by him or her in the past six days and mention the passport number.

http://m.gulfnews.com/news/asia/india/duty-free-allowance-in-india-raised-for-expatriates-and-foreigners-1.1569808