Airport Customs - Delhi IGI

Hi,
I'm going to be visiting USA soon, I plan to get back a couple of items with me including an iPad. I came to know that a laptop can be brought back duty-free by an individual over the age of 18.

I'm curious whether a used iPad would qualify for the said duty free exemption for laptops? I tried searching online a bit but did not get any results.

I also plan to bring back 2 used iPhones gifted to me by my brother and a refurbished dSLR with me, they would all be for personal use. What duty would I incurr on them? I am aware that I am allowed to bring in goods worth 25k without paying any duty on them.

Cheers,
Kauffmann

 

All products are going to be gifts by a relative, so I technically would not have spent a penny on them. I don't know if that helps my case or whatever. So according to you I should declare all the items and pass through the green channel?

 

You can carry them along without any duties imo too. For two phones you can claim one personal one official. iPad and laptops and cam as personal use. Just don't get them box packed.

 

Yeah man, I'm not stressing out as such, it's just that I don't want any issues at the airport.

From what I have read is that any high value item (camera, cellphone, etc.) that you are taking with you outside the country of residence needs to be declared upon departure in a declaration form so that when you arrive back to the country, the items you are carrying would be cleared without attracting duty.

It all depends on the Customs officials, if they want to make money off you they will tie you in a tender hook of technicalities. From what I could interpret from experiences of people, rules and regulations is that -

1. Duty exemption is upto Rs.35,000/-, the limit has been increased from 25k with the new budget.
2. A passenger over the age of 18 is allowed to bring in a laptop without paying any duty. The question here remains if a tablet computer (iPad) would be considered as a laptop.
3. Any high value items need to be declared upon departure in a declaration form so that upon your return back to the country, the said items would not invite any duty.
4. If you have not declared your high value item that you had carried from the country of origination/residence and the customs officials question you about the same upon your arrival back to the country, they can very well ask you to produce proof of purchase or bill in order to certify that the product was purchased within the Indian territory.

JD666, could you elaborate on the "personal items" bit? Even if I buy an item for my personal usage from abroad, would that not attract duty? Also, I wanted to know while passing through the Green Channel at the airport, do they scan your luggage in the X-ray machine?

So here's the low down, all the items I'm going to bring are "used" and will be given to me as gifts. I will not bring the boxes of the products for obvious reasons.

I know people in customs with whose influence I could easily get away with it. But I want to use that as the last resort and well, this is a humble attempt on getting to know the law a little better, the finer intricacies of it and ofcourse use it to my benefit.

Everyone is mentioning "personal usage" as a way of circumventing duties, I'd love to hear an elaboration on the same and if there are any legal backings to it.

 

Since the exemption limit has been increased to 35k, I could well enough cover my camera within the amount. As for the iPad, I'm hearing from other places that it is exempted under the laptop clause, BUT again, we need a concrete legal point to back such a claim so if need be we could argue it out, as it could be left to the whims and fancies of the officer in charge to consider the item as a laptop or not.

 

16 guards? Please tell me that you live in a housing complex?

As for JD, ah he has his charm and his own ways of going about things!

 

into kauffies bedroom??

interesting....
--- Post Merged: Jun 27, 2012 8:14 PM ---

 

Boy that's alot of stuff you were carrying! I'll have to start walking like a BAUS! There is a good chance my dad will be traveling with me on the way back or a couple of days later, so I can probably split the goodies with him. I can be sure that whatever goes with him would def pass through without any hassle.

I was planning on carrying an iPhone with me, but I'll carry an el cheapo Nokia, so on the way back, if I do split the goodies with my dad, I would have a dSLR (which I will claim within the 35k limit), an iPhone (which I would claim as a personal item that I took from India) and the iPad (which I'll try to claim under the laptop exemption clause).