NRIs scared of carrying Gold home
THE 'Arab News' published from Jeddah reported yesterday that Non-resident Indians (NRIs) traveling to Calicut, Kochi, Chennai and Hyderabad are reluctant to carry gold jewellery and ornaments home for fear of Customs. The recent seizures and arrests in these airports must have scared the NRIs. There is no clarity on how much gold ornaments an Indian returning from a foreign country can bring. Many believe that ornaments of daily use can be brought without any Customs duty, while some Customs officers believe that a lady can bring ornaments worth Rs. 1 Lakh and a gentleman can bring ornaments worth Rs. 50,000 - used or otherwise - on this, there is difference of opinion among the Customs officers in different airports and even within the same airport. After all, how much gold do you get for Rs. 1 Lakh? Any ordinary Indian lady would be wearing gold worth far more than that. Ornaments also have a lot of sentimental value and women shriek when Customs officers ask them to pay duty on the ornaments they are wearing. And it is really difficult for the Customs officers to deal with such cases at ungodly hours.
A passenger coming on Transfer of Residence is allowed to bring in jewellery taken out earlier by the passenger or a member of his family from India, subject to the satisfaction of the Assistant Commissioner of Customs that the jewellery have been taken out earlier from India. Now, how do you satisfy the Assistant Commissioner that your mother-in-law had taken the jewellery out of India ten years ago and you inherited it after her death in USA a couple of years ago? And if the Assistant Commissioner is not satisfied, am I supposed to satisfy the Commissioner (Appeals), the Tribunal, the High Court and the Supreme Court that the jewels were indeed taken out of India?
The CBEC website has a "Guide for travellers" [http://cbec.gov.in/trvler-guide_ason22 may 2013.pdf], but even this guide does not answer these questions. The Guide says that duty free allowance is not applicable to Gold or silver in any form, other than ornaments. Does it mean that ornaments can be imported duty free?