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Beware customs officials in Mumbai International airport!!! [merged]

Beware customs officials in Mumbai International airport!!! [merged]

Old Nov 15, 2012, 11:28 am
  #166  
 
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Originally Posted by Keyser
i don't think they harass anyone....the fact of the matter is that most tourists coming to india plan on taking back the items they have brought with them, whereas most indians returning home usually have items valued at more than their duty free allowance which they fail to declare....these people should be stopped & made to pay the applicable duty....
Right but what should a person do in my case then ? I am returning home after 1 year and 4 months (next month) and i have things which are used and bought more than 6 months back to some more than an year back and i have bills to prove that. But i fear customs will be calculating their own assessed values and either ask for bribe to "settle" the matter or penalize me.
I read the customs doc and as a professional returning to India after 365 days i believe i have right to bring 75000 worth of goods and this is supposedly separate from the 35000 duty free allowance.
Correct me if i am wrong.
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Old Nov 16, 2012, 12:40 am
  #167  
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Originally Posted by rak007
Right but what should a person do in my case then ? I am returning home after 1 year and 4 months (next month) and i have things which are used and bought more than 6 months back to some more than an year back and i have bills to prove that. But i fear customs will be calculating their own assessed values and either ask for bribe to "settle" the matter or penalize me.
they do have a method of calculating duty & its a pretty fair method....i have not come across an official asking for a bribe is a very very long time & neither has anyone else i know so maybe this sort of thing is not common anymore....what is the value of your items & what kind of items are these????

Originally Posted by rak007
I read the customs doc and as a professional returning to India after 365 days i believe i have right to bring 75000 worth of goods and this is supposedly separate from the 35000 duty free allowance.
Correct me if i am wrong.
i could be wrong here but i believe you are only entitled to inr 75k & not the additional inr 35k....
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Old Nov 16, 2012, 9:34 am
  #168  
 
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Originally Posted by Keyser
they do have a method of calculating duty & its a pretty fair method....i have not come across an official asking for a bribe is a very very long time & neither has anyone else i know so maybe this sort of thing is not common anymore....what is the value of your items & what kind of items are these????



i could be wrong here but i believe you are only entitled to inr 75k & not the additional inr 35k....
even that 75K would be ok with me. But those customs have to take the word written in their document. I am completely ok if they do not give me 35K + 75K and only 75K

As of now as i prepare to leave USA, i have taken printouts of all the bills i paid for the things i am bringing back and also the customs document and the government letter which mentions the duty free allowance has been increased to 35K (since the customs link is not updated).
You think it will help me if i carry all these documents and question them if they ask me to pay duty. Because along with me and my wife if my wife is not considered "professional retuning to India" then at least she should get 35K which totally makes 75K for me + 35K for her.

Please correct me if i am wrong anywhere.
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Old Nov 16, 2012, 1:27 pm
  #169  
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Originally Posted by rak007
even that 75K would be ok with me. But those customs have to take the word written in their document. I am completely ok if they do not give me 35K + 75K and only 75K

As of now as i prepare to leave USA, i have taken printouts of all the bills i paid for the things i am bringing back and also the customs document and the government letter which mentions the duty free allowance has been increased to 35K (since the customs link is not updated).
You think it will help me if i carry all these documents and question them if they ask me to pay duty. Because along with me and my wife if my wife is not considered "professional retuning to India" then at least she should get 35K which totally makes 75K for me + 35K for her.

Please correct me if i am wrong anywhere.
that makes sense....i really don't think you will have a problem but its a good idea to keep the bills....
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Old Nov 16, 2012, 2:49 pm
  #170  
 
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Yes, the customs process has improved tremendously since those days... haven't heard of any extortion, at least not by customs officials at the airport (have heard some anecdotes of such happening at port however).
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Old Nov 17, 2012, 1:18 am
  #171  
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Exclamation

Originally Posted by rak007
Right but what should a person do in my case then ? I am returning home after 1 year and 4 months (next month) and i have things which are used and bought more than 6 months back to some more than an year back and i have bills to prove that. But i fear customs will be calculating their own assessed values and either ask for bribe to "settle" the matter or penalize me.
I read the customs doc and as a professional returning to India after 365 days i believe i have right to bring 75000 worth of goods and this is supposedly separate from the 35000 duty free allowance.
Correct me if i am wrong.
Used Used items applies to personal effects, household items, say, towel, sheets, cookware, iron etc. The keyword here is "household". Used personal effects can be imported duty free, but any items not consumed will have to be exported when you leave India. "Usedness" is not meant to allow duty free import of "phoren" goods, if you get the idea. The intent behind allowing used personal effects to be imported duty free is to facilitate your everyday life. Your shaving cream, razor, cologne, your clothes, and if you are foreigner resident in India, your household goods, are allowed duty free. It's not meant for importing used consumer electronics.

The fear of being harassed by customs officers is a myth perpetrated by people who don't want to pay the duty. I have never been harassed by customs officers. If you try outsmart them, they will go after you with all their might. That's where harassment comes into play. It used to be that flights coming from the Middle East and SEA received extra attention, as that's where most people brought stuff from. Now that India NA traffic has grown and much of that comes through the Middle East, I don't know if flights coming from the Middle East receive special attention. In anycase, they are not likely to pay much attention to you once they know that you are returning from the U.S.
You will be fine if you make an honest declaration. Since you are returning to India after staying abroad for more than year, your duty free allowance for used goods is Rs 75,000, provided those items are not excluded otherwise.
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Old Jul 23, 2015, 7:51 pm
  #172  
 
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Is the limit of bringing in Rs 10,000 currency limited to the whole family irrespective how many members are there, that one carry when landing at India(we will be coming to Mumbai) OR is it per passenger limit in a family, meaning if there are 4 members in the family 2 adults and 2 kids, can we bring Rs 40,000 currency combined ?
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Old Jul 24, 2015, 1:28 am
  #173  
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Its 10000 Rs per person. Note that in spite of all liberalisation, taking out Rupees in form of currency is still not allowed. Hence bringing in is also not allowed

www.cbec.gov.in/trvler-guide_ason11June2014.pdf
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Old Jul 24, 2015, 9:50 pm
  #174  
 
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You have posted the link of 2014 travelers guide to India.

The 2015 traveler guide does not mention anywhere about Rs 10,000 limit, looks like the have removed it in the 2015 version, in fact it mentions you can bring in currency till
Rs 25,000, is this really true? if it is, it is really good because then per passenger limit would be Rs 25,000

http://www.cbec.gov.in/trvler-guide_ason05feb2015.pdf
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Old Aug 1, 2015, 6:39 pm
  #175  
 
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Originally Posted by safari_7
Thanks a lot for all your replies and suggestions. Expensive lesson learnt and shall handle it suitably next time....... I guess India hasn't changed afterall, and the customs officials are just as awful and corrupt as before.

One more thing....... after finding the loophole with the camera goodies and the amounts..... they then went onto inspect each item of my duffle bag to see what else they can dig up (although it already went through the scanner). Just dirty clothes from the safari, but, they were disgusting handling every item of clothing in front of the whole world. Cheap B#$$ards .......

Thanks all........
Sorry to read you have to go thru.
In my recent trip I see even though you go thru "Green Channel" in Mumbai airport every one has to put baggage on the belt and security guy will check thru scanner, as a result there is huge line in fron of these two scanners. While in Delhi I see completely different if you are go thru green channel you just walk out with your luggage.
My experiences in Mumbai airport (travelling since 1998) never been good, I tried to avoid mumbai as much as possible because of harrasement of guys in customs and lot of people inside the airport asking for you know "what". While in Delhi I never had any problems.
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