I'm flying into Bombay (Mumbai) on June 26th, and as the title suggests, will have atleast the following in my carry-on:

* Laptop
* Wireless Mouse, CDs
* Digital SLR Camera
* 2 Additional Camera Lens
* 8-10 Filters
* Various camera accessories
* Tripod
* iPod with charger
* Spare Compact Flash cards + USB Cards for camera
* Compact digital camera + charger

I will take them out of India with me a few weeks later. Do I need to declare them in the customs form and get customs to endorse my passport? If so, can I still go through the green channel? All items listed above are for personal use only, and I own all of them. I'm not sure if I can dig up receipts, however...

If customs does require duties, can I get a refund on my way out?

Any suggestion(s) will be greatly appreciated.

I regularly go through Bombay customs with the following and have not had a problem:

Laptop
CDs
Digital camera with SD cards
iPod with charger
Bose QC2 headphones
2 Mobile phones and a charger

I was asked once after the x-ray if I had a digital camera in my bag and when I replied Yes, they asked if I had a ticket out. Yes again, and they waved me on without asking to check the ticket.

You do have a lot of accessories though, so I suggest you print out this page and carry it with you - check what is extra since you may be charged duty on that. It does not mention a digital camera, so I guess thats why they asked me if I had a ticket out.

http://www.cbec.gov.in/cae/customs/cs-act/formatted-htmls/cs-rulef.htm

Oh yeah...If you plan to travel to and from India more than once with all that stuff, when you leave you can get something called an Export Certificate (at the customs counter after immigration and before the gate areas) with all those items that you're carrying out of the country listed so that you don't have to go through the hassle of any questioning (read fishing for bribes) every time you return.

http://www.cbec.gov.in/cae/customs/cs-act/formatted-htmls/cs-rulef.htm

Thanks for the info and the link. According to the link, I can also carry two (2) litres of alcohol AND two (2) litres of wine, for a total of 4 litres?? :eek: ? I thought the norm was one (1) litre of alcohol OR wine, basically a combined total of 1 litre. [See Annex 1 of the link]

You also mentioned that I may be asked to pay customs on the accessories. Isn't there a customs waiver for personal, non-business use, especially when I'm taking them out of India within weeks of entering? I do have a letter from my employer stating that I'm on vacation, and that I return to work in a few weeks (exact dates on the letter) - part of my visa documentation...

With regards to "questioning", what would be my worst case scenario? Make me empty my wallet? Confiscate? :(

Lastly, on my way out of India, do I need to declare anything or go through some special formalities?

Thanks in advance for your answers

If you don't appear to be Indian -- whatever that means -- (and are not Russian or Israeli), then it's likely that you can just hand them the "customs" slip and say personal electronics you're taking back with you. And you'll be sent on your way. [Make sure to have your customs slip and your passport out, if you are American. A flash of that, and customs gets a clue -- especially if you came off one of the American or European-flagged flights.]

BOM customs is notorious for having people asking for bribes or to help you "cut through the line". Just wait your time and don't pay. It'll land you in more heat than not paying.

If you have personal electronics and alcohol, then make sure to cross all your T's and dot all your I's since they might presume they are all "gifts" to be left behind.

If your electronics are used and clearly so, don't expect much of an issue. Departure with electronics from Bombay is basically a non-issue; and there is no exit declaration unless customs at arrivals notes that you brought in items.

What kind of visa are you travelling on? Business visa-holders, with the exceptions noted above, are usually not troubled in BOM or DEL with equipment such as your. Even tourist visa holders are generally waived through with no issue. Customs into India is a joke, so don't get too worried about it.

What kind of visa are you travelling on? Business visa-holders, with the exceptions noted above, are usually not troubled in BOM or DEL with equipment such as your. Even tourist visa holders are generally waived through with no issue. Customs into India is a joke, so don't get too worried about it.

Your right GUWonder, I much prefer the racial profiling in the US where members of certain ethnic groups are required to be subjected to totally unreasonable searches based on race. Not sure if you know this or not, but most bags that have electronics are x-rayed and marked with a special chalk if it contains questionable goods prior to arriving on the luggage carousel. Furthermore, all hand baggage is x-rayed after passengers clear immigration and prior to clearing the customs hall. I find the green channel/red channel an effective method of customs screening that is used throughout Asia/South America/Europe.

I'm not sure how you came up with the statement "Customs into India is a joke"? Care to elaborate?

I've never had a problem with any electronic equipment into and out of BLR, and never made any special declarations when I arrive with laptop, ipod, camera, phone, etc.

One nice thing about the simplicity of BLR, though, is that customs is incredibly easy as there would never be more than one flight arriving at a time. Half the time, they don't even get my customs form, because it's just a guy standing off to one side down the hallway.

Oddly enough, there is a customs stop on departure, but I've never understood the point as there is no form to give them, they ask no questions, and just stamp your boarding pass.

Your right GUWonder, I much prefer the racial profiling in the US where members of certain ethnic groups are required to be subjected to totally unreasonable searches based on race. Not sure if you know this or not, but most bags that have electronics are x-rayed and marked with a special chalk if it contains questionable goods prior to arriving on the luggage carousel. Furthermore, all hand baggage is x-rayed after passengers clear immigration and prior to clearing the customs hall. I find the green channel/red channel an effective method of customs screening that is used throughout Asia/South America/Europe.

I'm not sure how you came up with the statement "Customs into India is a joke"? Care to elaborate?

I wasn't justifying what happens; I am just sharing what I've observed to happen more times than not (especially vis-a-vis hand baggage). [I am reasonably familiar with the functioning of Indian airports, and what you describe does not always happen.]

By the way, not all hand baggage is x-rayed after passengers clear immigration in DEL and BOM. If there is a "line" at the "scan hand bag" x-ray machine(s) or if the X-ray machine is not working/staffed, passengers will often just go on their way and straight out the doors.

If customs has amongst its objectives: A) the prevention of contraband entering the country and/or B) collecting tariffs/taxes due and remitting the whole of said due amounts to the Union treasury; and if it often fails to do Items A and/or B, then customs is truly a joke.

Carrying personal, used electronics in handbags will not cause the OP any grievance, given what I said previously, as long as the OP is honest when/where asked.

India is making a concerted effort to make the airport experience a better one than historically; this includes attempting to make immigration/emigration and customs procedures simpler and more friendly. And the objective of "less-than-20-minutes from disembarkation to immigration clearance" is very much welcome.

Oddly enough, there is a customs stop on departure, but I've never understood the point as there is no form to give them, they ask no questions, and just stamp your boarding pass.

That was mostly about taking gold and "hard currency" out of the country and smuggling out of drugs. The "gold"/"hard currency" concern is not what it used to be, but the smuggling of drugs still is. [The drug smuggling concerns are route specific, to some degree.]

Emigration for Indian couples or single Indian women (with or without children) still seem to get reviewed more thoroughly on exit. Tax clearance ("no objection certificates") seems to be one of the issues.

Customs at BOM has become a mere formality compared to what it used to be. Electronic goods are now freely imported into india so 'smuggling' in goods above your allowance is not an issue. The gold restrictions have been eased so no need to chack that anymore. Gold used to be smuggled in in return for the black market hawala currency trade. The x-raying aimed to detect electronic goods and gold. Ladies were singled out because they carried it on their body to avoid detection. BOM had a few metal detector gates near customs for that purpose.

My experience at BOM recently has been that the customs guys look for business travelers and tourists and usher them thru without x-ray. Just hold your non-indian passport visibly so that they notice. In DEL there is no requirement for x-ray anymore. Even indian travellers are not questioned about their electronic equipment anymore.

My luggage has been marked with a chalk X in BOM before. The customs officer in the red channel just opened and closed my case and I was done before the crowd in the green channel x-ray queue.

I wasn't justifying what happens; I am just sharing what I've observed to happen more times than not (especially vis-a-vis hand baggage). [I am reasonably familiar with the functioning of Indian airports, and what you describe does not always happen.]

By the way, not all hand baggage is x-rayed after passengers clear immigration in DEL and BOM. If there is a "line" at the "scan hand bag" x-ray machine(s) or if the X-ray machine is not working/staffed, passengers will often just go on their way and straight out the doors.

If customs has amongst its objectives: A) the prevention of contraband entering the country and/or B) collecting tariffs/taxes due and remitting the whole of said due amounts to the Union treasury; and if it often fails to do Items A and/or B, then customs is truly a joke.

Carrying personal, used electronics in handbags will not cause the OP any grievance, given what I said previously, as long as the OP is honest when/where asked.

India is making a concerted effort to make the airport experience a better one than historically; this includes attempting to make immigration/emigration and customs procedures simpler and more friendly. And the objective of "less-than-20-minutes from disembarkation to immigration clearance" is very much welcome.

Every country has different measures with respect to customs. Often most will allow you to bring in excess of the stated amount (often the stated amounts on customs forms are grossly unreasonable) and this discretion is what customs in India is using as well. It is a well known fact that most business travellers and tourists of foreign origin are less likely to carry contraband/dutiable items anyways. Try travelling as a local resident coming back from Singapore or Bangkok and you will see how "thorough" customs actually is? :D

With respect to drugs, the issue of drugs coming in/out of the country in sizeable quantity does not normally happen at the airports but overland, specifically via Pakistan and Burma. However, the issue of prescription drugs being exported via airports is of new concern (primarily to the USA).

I'll criticize a process where I see it. With respect to my experiences at Indian Airports I offer the following:

I like:

1. Service at most airline counters - the girls in the sarees directing you do a very good job and are nice to look at :D

2. My luggage is always on time and has never been lost/delayed. In contrast my luggage into Vancouver has been lost/delayed on at least 7 occasions.

3. Immigration is very speedy. Sometimes I even get a "welcome to India" greeting.

4. There is a very reasonably priced duty free at the arrivals area so I don't have to carry a couple of bottles of whiskey (mostly for gifts) on a 24 journey.
5. Customs is very speedy. Most I have been asked is to have my checked baggage x-rayed.

I don't like:

1. Departure Lounges. I think the airlines share some responsiblity to create a lounge that meets the standards internationally

2. Airport bathrooms. I'd rather wait and use the bathroom on the aircraft

3. The general look of the airports (truly looks 3rd world)

4. Common flight delays - usually short buy annoying

Thanks, all, for the replies. I certainly hope I can fly through customs. The next (and most important :D question) is exactly how much alcohol I can carry into India? By alcohol, I mean whiskey and liqueors. Savage25 posted this (http://www.cbec.gov.in/cae/customs/cs-act/formatted-htmls/cs-rulef.htm) link that says I can carry 4 litres of alcohol - seems like a bit much...

Also, if I want carry a golf set (and leave it behind as a gift), how do I go about doing that?

Thanks again for any responses. This should be the last of my questions...

Limits in India are pretty much the same as in the rest of the world: 1 litre of hard spirits like whiskey, two litres of wine and similiar stuff. Of course no one really checks, but you never know.

Bringing in the golf bag should be no problem. The days where they used to record everthing you bring in on your passport are long gone. Even if they do, there is next to no check of your passport on your way out.

Limits in India are pretty much the same as in the rest of the world: 1 litre of hard spirits like whiskey, two litres of wine and similiar stuff. Of course no one really checks, but you never know.

Bringing in the golf bag should be no problem. The days where they used to record everthing you bring in on your passport are long gone. Even if they do, there is next to no check of your passport on your way out.

That's right. But on departure, "emigration" does scan the passport but does not really look for customs declarations inside. However, "customs" does very occassionally check after the emigration desk and before the general pre-security waiting area. [More often than not, they are just talking to themselves -- at least in DEL.]

The customs check after emmigration and before boarding was meant to be

1. to check the passport of leaving visitors for entries regarding good imported for personal use
2. to allow indian leaving india for a short trip to get an entry into their passport when they take valueables (gold, computers, cameras etc) out of the country so that they don't face problems re-importing it into the country
3. to intercept passengers who are carrying drugs, contraband, articles of historical importance and endangered species.

For this they have/had sniffer dogs in place who sniffed at all checked luggage. The focus was on drugs. In BOM you could see a giant german shepherd dog sniffing at a conveyor belt behind the checkin counters when you turned left after the customs check. They still catch a few drug smuggling africans that way in BOM each year. It seems drugs are cheaper in India than Africa. So only when the sniifing dog is active you will also see customs checks nowdays. The check is only to see if you are the guys whos luggage 'smells funny'.

I have found that in DEL, the security procedures have improved dramatically since the control was handed from Delhi Police to the CISF (a federal police agency). It used to be that the Delhi Police chaps would help themselves to any change you were carrying. On a recent trip, the CISF chap doing the security check was extremely professional and courteous. He asked me to remove my wallet, but told me to place it on the side and refused to touch it (unlike in the past, when the DP chap rifled through my wallet and helped himself to a couple of 100 Rupee notes).

On the other hand, there needs to be a decent departure lounge in DEL.

Not that this answers the original question, but I just thought I'd share it with everyone :)

I have found that in DEL, the security procedures have improved dramatically since the control was handed from Delhi Police to the CISF (a federal police agency). It used to be that the Delhi Police chaps would help themselves to any change you were carrying. On a recent trip, the CISF chap doing the security check was extremely professional and courteous. He asked me to remove my wallet, but told me to place it on the side and refused to touch it (unlike in the past, when the DP chap rifled through my wallet and helped himself to a couple of 100 Rupee notes).

On the other hand, there needs to be a decent departure lounge in DEL.

Not that this answers the original question, but I just thought I'd share it with everyone :)

Your experience is correct on all accounts and the change from DPS to CISF has been a welcome one.

Your experience is correct on all accounts and the change from DPS to CISF has been a welcome one.

One exception still exists......if you have an e-ticket and the date has not been changed if you are not flying on your original res. the police at the door will not let you in. I had to call AC, in this case and get someone to come and meet me at the door with a copy of the new res. If you don't have a cell phone you could be SOL. I think some rupees might have changed the demeanor of the guy at the door but I won't do that.

They do have a list of E-ticket pax but if you changed your res within the last 24 hours there is a good possibility your name won't be on the eticket list.

One exception still exists......if you have an e-ticket and the date has not been changed if you are not flying on your original res. the police at the door will not let you in. I had to call AC, in this case and get someone to come and meet me at the door with a copy of the new res. If you don't have a cell phone you could be SOL. I think some rupees might have changed the demeanor of the guy at the door but I won't do that.

They do have a list of E-ticket pax but if you changed your res within the last 24 hours there is a good possibility your name won't be on the eticket list.

I've had the issue and just learned to edit the printout; that generally works, at least for non-Indians. :)

Several of the airlines there have an office outside; just find out if they do and knock on the door/desk until someone helps. (That won't work for all the airlines there).

The DPS were more of a pain than CISF even in the event of an "irregularity".

I've had the issue and just learned to edit the printout; that generally works, at least for non-Indians. :)

Several of the airlines there have an office outside; just find out if they do and knock on the door/desk until someone helps. (That won't work for all the airlines there).

The DPS were more of a pain than CISF even in the event of an "irregularity".

Yes, edit the printout is the correct thing to do and I will do the same next trip.
Yes tye do have offices a tthe far end of therminal and up some steps and into a dark long hallway.......my preferred method is to have the phone number of the supervisor or station manager which I did have for AC.

If anyone 'helps himself' to any money you have, you are entitled to raise hell on earth to get that guy what he deserves.

I have never seen such behaviour inspite of flying a lot via indian airports. Even before the CISF days :confused:

I know this is an old thread, but still may be of use.

I flew into BOM last week with two laptops. I got stopped when they x-ray baggage on leaving customs. They told me that I would have to pay duty on one of the laptops as you are only allowed one in the personal allowance.

They asked me how much they were worth. I said they were older and only wortha bout 500 USD each. This didn't seem to bother them. They said that I would have to pay 35% of the value of one of them. As I felt that it would be worthless to complain and that I could expense it anyway, I stayed calm, chatty and friendly. They asked if I needed a receipt and I said yes. We continued to talk about what I did and who our customers were in India (Indian Railways a big one). A supervisor came over and there was a short exchange after which the customs officer smiled and said: "OK, this time ok, but next time one only please".

It was a good lesson...and free at that.

He said that I would have been able to get the duty back, but that it would take a loooooong time. ;)

I know this is an old thread, but still may be of use.

I flew into BOM last week with two laptops. I got stopped when they x-ray baggage on leaving customs. They told me that I would have to pay duty on one of the laptops as you are only allowed one in the personal allowance.

They asked me how much they were worth. I said they were older and only wortha bout 500 USD each. This didn't seem to bother them. They said that I would have to pay 35% of the value of one of them. As I felt that it would be worthless to complain and that I could expense it anyway, I stayed calm, chatty and friendly. They asked if I needed a receipt and I said yes. We continued to talk about what I did and who our customers were in India (Indian Railways a big one). A supervisor came over and there was a short exchange after which the customs officer smiled and said: "OK, this time ok, but next time one only please".

It was a good lesson...and free at that.

He said that I would have been able to get the duty back, but that it would take a loooooong time. ;)

It was an attempt to get a bribe. If you are temporarily importing an item into the country, you tell them that you plan to export it, i.e. take it back with you when you leave India. They will make an entry on your passport and you might be required to show at the time of departure that you are taking it back with you. A customs officer will sign off on it.

On my first trip to India way back in 1982, I had a camera that I was worried about. No one bothered me. When I left India, I got an export certificate for that camera when I left India at the then of my trip. :D

It was an attempt to get a bribe. If you are

:D Well I guess my stupid foreigner act paid off and he got fed up waiting for me to hand over the dough...I guess by asking for a receipt it made it a bit more difficult.

:D Well I guess my stupid foreigner act paid off and he got fed up waiting for me to hand over the dough...I guess by asking for a receipt it made it a bit more difficult.

Actually - you're technically allowed only one laptop in duty free. You can convince customs officers to let you through with two laptops. In places where they're focused on bribes, laptops are small fry when people come in from the gulf or singapore with plasma tvs in their checkin baggage .. though what state those arrive in, given the traditional "indian airport baggage handling routine", is something I prefer not to think about.

If you don't appear to be Indian -- whatever that means -- (and are not Russian or Israeli),What's the deal with being Russian or Israeli?? :confused:

What's the deal with being Russian or Israeli?? :confused:

Just like if you're nigerians, say, you get some extra special checking at security