Customs Duty in India for any parcel really matters primarily matters on what you declare to customs. Customs department in India has now come up with a streamlined process that is now comparable to many advanced countries in the world. Customs Duty in India and rules around it is in operation in all major International Gateways in India such as New Delhi, Mumbai and others. In stead of going through all the documents that Govt of India has published over the years, it is our experience that imposing customs duty in India is now much more transparent than ever before. One way it is very straight forward to explain to customers and many times the expectation on the duty amount does match however there are times when we have seen that it did not match.
How Does It Work ?
Assessment of duty is based on the value declared on the customs declaration form. At the time of booking shipment, sender will be provided with “Customs Declaration Form” and in that for sender declares what they are sending and what is the value of the each items and total value of the shipment is declared through that form. Like many other countries in the world, Indian Customs has come up with a threshold value of INR 5000. If the declared value of the shipment is over and above that threshold, duty will be applied at the rate of a MINIMUM of 42.5%. Please note that this is minimum and applied to anything you would be sending to India through Courier Service.
Duty can be higher based on the items entering the country such as electronic items – attract higher customs duty than any other item.
If you are filling up a Customs Declaration Form for sending any parcel to India, please understand that this form is the documents that informs Indian Customs about the valuation of your items that you are sending. Based on your declared value Customs in India will impose duty so it is entirely up to you how you declare the value of the items you are sending.
There are many times we note that senders tend to think that value declared in customs declaration form has got something to do with the insurance coverage of the shipment. Customs Declaration Form is purely a declaration from the sender about the details of the shipment and the value of the shipment. This has got nothing to do with insurance coverage. DTDC Australia offers a default Insurance cover of $100 for any international shipment. If you have not opted for additional insurance coverage, you shipment is only covered for $100 and not based on the value you declare in customs declaration form.
