May have to declare
assets — By Kaushalendra Singh — SALALAH — Non-Resident Indians (NRIs)
travelling to India during this summer vacation should plan their
baggage carefully, as they may have to fill a lengthy 21-question
form on arrival as declaration of the assets they are carrying in
terms of gold, cash and electronic goods. According to a report in
Indian newspaper the Hindustan Times (HT), the customs department of
India is preparing the new detailed declaration form, which a
passenger has to fill out on arrival.
“The new form has 21 questions
compared to the previous one which had just four queries. The
proposal is awaiting approval from senior officials.” “Passengers
arriving at the international terminal of Delhi’s Indira Gandhi
International (IGI) Airport may soon have to declare the value of
the jewellery they are carrying and wearing,” the report added.
Quoting an Indian Customs official, the report said that the new
declaration form has detailed questions on jewellery.
“A passenger will be required
to tell the type and value of jewellery he/she is carrying and also
what they are wearing," said the official. "Under the new
declaration form, we will also be asking passengers to declare the
amount of cash they are carrying. We have also separated electronics
under separate heads such as laptop, mobile and camera," said the
report quoting the official. The new declaration form is being
planned in the wake of increased limit of jewellery from this
financial year for male and female passengers travelling to India.
For female passengers the limit on jewellery has been increased from Rs 20,000 to Rs 100,000. For male passengers the limit has been raised from Rs 10,000 to Rs 50,000. Despite the increase, a female passenger is not allowed to carry more than 35 gram of gold and there is a duty of 10 per cent on gold jewellery and 6 per cent on gold biscuits. The report suggests that India’s Customs department is planning to implement the new jewellery limit strictly, as last year, as many as 20 passengers were stopped and fined and few were arrested for carrying undeclared gold jewellery.