Travellers to India often have questions about the customs duties applicable to various items they bring with them. From electronics and luxury goods to tobacco, alcohol, and more, understanding the customs regulations can help ensure a smooth entry into the country without any unexpected surprises.
Jewellery
An Indian passenger who has been residing abroad for over one year is allowed to bring jewellery, free of duty in his bonafide baggage upto 20 grams with a value cap of Rs.50,000/- (in case of a gentleman passenger) or up to 40 grams with a value cap of Rs.1,00,000/- (in the case of a lady passenger).
Electronics
Indian residents and foreigners residing in India are allowed to bring personal used electronic articles worth up to Rs 50,000 on arrival from countries except Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar. You can carry your personal-use electronic gadgets including phone, laptop, power bank, etc. However, if you have an authorised letter from your organisation, you can also carry your official laptop along with your personal laptop.
Alcohol and Tobacco
Following quantities of Alcoholic drinks and Tobacco products may be included for import within the duty-free allowances admissible to various categories of incoming passengers: Alcoholic liquor or Wine or beer up to 2 litres, 100 Cigarettes or 25 Cigars or 125 gms of Tobacco.
Page 6 of 19 Condition: The imported goods shall have proper pictorial warning on them as prescribed by Cigarettes and Tobacco Products Packaging and Labelling Rules, issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The rate of duty is applicable on these products over and above the above-mentioned, duty-free allowance is as under: (i) Cigarettes BCD @ 30% + social welfare surcharge @ 3%+ CVD+NCCD+IGST (as applicable) (ii) All alcoholic beverages other than beer and inclusive of wine BCD @ 150% (iii) Beer BCD @ 100% + Social Welfare Surcharge 10%.
Firearms
Import of firearms is prohibited. Likewise, the import of Cartridges in excess of 50 is also prohibited. However, persons transferring their residence (subject to fulfilment of requisite conditions of Transfer of Residence) to India for a minimum period of one year are allowed to import one firearm of permissible bore subject to the conditions that: (i) The firearm was in possession and used abroad by the passenger for a minimum period of one year. (ii) The firearm, after clearance shall not be sold, loaned, transferred or parted with in any manner during the lifetime of the passenger. (iii) The firearm will be allowed clearance under the Transfer of Residence facility, on payment of applicable duty provided the passenger holds a valid arms license from the local authorities.
Pets
Import of pets (dogs or cats) up to two numbers per passenger is allowed as baggage, only to persons transferring their residence to India after two years of continuous stay abroad subject to the production of the required health certificate from the country of origin and examination of the said pets by the animal quarantine officer without an import license issued by DGFT. Import of pets is allowed only at airports having animal quarantine facilities, viz. at Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad. Passengers can also re-import the pets which were being taken away with them as export with prior certification from the Animal Quarantine officer.
For details please refer http://aqcsindia.gov.in/pdf/trade-24.pdf
Seeds/ plants/ flowers
Only certain plants and plant materials in Schedules V, VI and VII of the Plant Quarantine (Regulation of Import into India) Order, 2003 are allowed to be imported into India subject to conditions. Passengers should ensure that regulated plant species should be accompanied by a Phytosanitary certificate issued by an authorized officer in the country of origin. For details, please refer to http://plantquarantineindia.nic.in/PQISMain/Default.aspx
