Expert: Roberto Gomes - 12/15/2008

Question
HELLO SIR,
We are family of 3. My husband, me and a year old kid. We are coming back to India after 10 months stay at Singapore. My husband was here on deputation for his company's project.
The question is related to custom duty on a digital camera which we have purchased 3 months back for personal use of worth similar to 45,000 Indian ruppes.


I want to know do we need to pay any customs duty for it? Are we eligible for 25,000=00 duty free limit individually? If so, can we have a combine (me and my husband) duty free limit of 50,000=00?
thanking you  

Answer
Dear Rajeshri,

Acoording to Indian Customs information, the amount that you mentioned is correct.

Although there is a provision covering the stay of Indian professionals abroad, it is applied for stays over 6 months in which case the free-duty allowance is set as Rs.12,000 for used household articles and Rs.40,000 for professional equipment.

You can check the entire regulation at the following link:

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

Hope this helps.
Best Regards,
R. Gomes