mapleg

Did a quick search and did not see this posted elsewhere so apologies if it was.:

Could someone confirm if my understanding below is correct (for Non Indian Citizen entering India)

1. No customs form has to be filled in if one is not declaring anything over the duty free allowance (and of course no restricted items)

2. Can bring up to 25,000 rupees cash.

Thanks.

oliver2002

No, the 25k INR is only for Indians or resident foreigners returning to India. Technically a visitor should not have Indian currency with them when arriving in India.

http://www.cbec.gov.in/Cbec_Revamp_n...F12DA8C60248FD

Bandicoot

No, that is not accurate. The rules you refer to appear to be from February 2015. However, in December 2015 the Reserve Bank of India further liberalized the currency regulations to allow anyone* to bring in or take out INR 25,000.

https://rbi.org.in/scripts/Notificat...d=10268&Mode=0

(*) Anyone = Anyone not a citizen of Pakistan or Bangladesh.

Bandicoot

And to reply to the original post, that is correct, you do not need to fill in a customs form if you have nothing to declare. They don't even hand them out on the plane any more. You do have to fill a "disembarkation form" where you provide some basic information about your flight and address in India.

Note - in many cases, even if you have nothing to declare, your baggage may undergo screening as you exit. The hand bags can be scanned right after you pass through immigration (e.g., at Bangalore), and any or all of your bags can be scanned again after baggage claim randomly as you exit after baggage reclaim (common at Mumbai, sometimes happens at Bangalore and elsewhere).

Regarding currency, in my experience (more than a dozen trips to India in the last couple of years) they don't actually bother to search - so if you inadvertently had, e.g., INR 30,000 on you, it's not very likely that you'll get into trouble for it. But they do seem to profile and search *some* travelers based on some heuristics or intelligence about them, because the newspapers always have reports of someone or the other caught flying in or out with large amounts of cash in various currencies.

Keyser

chennai is the one place where all hand bags are scanned before you reach baggage claim....delhi has no scans for hand baggage....with all the other airport they scan them sometimes....

you are right, they are unlikely to check unless you are chosen for a random screening & even then they simply scan your bags to see what you are carrying....i have never heard of anyone being stopped for carrying inr into the country....that being said, its always a good idea to stick to the inr 25k limit & just exchange currency here....