All this while, importing goods and electronics from other countries to India has been hard, especially because of the custom duties that are applied on it. To be true, it was always a concern about how much will the authorities charge and whether getting a product from abroad will actually help save money or the duties will make it an expensive affair.
According to the official information, it was Rs. 2000 as the slab above which there would be a good amount of 41% of the value would be charged as the custom duty. Now, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry has changed the limit in a surprising move, and it is now Rs. 50000 value, and a consumer electronic item having a value lesser than that won’t have any custom duty.
Consumer electronic items (except hearing aids and life-saving equipment’s, apparatus and appliances and parts thereof): Provided that the c.i.f value of goods imported as aforesaid at any one time shall not exceed rupees fifty thousand.
This comes as a good move because it has been a hurdle for anyone trying to import any electronics from the other markets. While the government in India has eased the value, there is a clear mention that it is only for personal use and companies cannot take benefit from it, so the fixed charge that they were paying earlier remains the same.
For normal consumers, getting a package involved not just the customs but also other ones like the freight cost and insurance, but that too not always guaranteed the departure of the package from the customs department to the final destination. Sometimes, the invoice is demanded to verify the value of the product and sometimes, one has to even submit the receiver KYC documents. While these things might remain the same, the increase in value of the product changes the way people used to think and decide about purchases from abroad.
