New Customs Formalities at Indian Airports

Travel to India has become stricter with stringent guidelines imposed on the passengers. All the Passengers arriving at the country’s 19 international airports must fill out a detailed customs declaration form with specific fields for dutiable and prohibited goods, including gold jewelry, gold bullion and Indian currency exceeding the permitted limit. The new rule took effect on January 1.
The form has to be filled out when a passenger exits the country. Male passengers can carry gold worth up to Rs50, 000 (Dh3, 400) and female passengers twice as much. The currency limit for Indian citizens is Rs7, 500 (Dh510). Non-resident Indians can take foreign exchange and have to declare amounts exceeding $5,000 or equivalent or when the aggregate value of foreign exchange (banknotes, travelers cheques) exceeds $10,000. The passengers will also have to produce details of countries visited in the past six days along with their passport numbers. This is in addition to providing existing details like declaration of satellite phone, foreign currency, meat, dairy, fish or poultry products, seeds, plants, fruits, flowers and other planting material and baggage details.

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