New Customs Rates?

Staggering increase IMO. Will definitely effect the higher end of the audio market which was already suffering from slow sales due to demonetization etc.
Cheers,
Sid

Government is not bothered about niche markets where hardly any tax revenue is generated. And local manufacturers will benefit from the price increase of imported products. That is also ok.

But like someone else wrote already, grey imports will go up. It's now worthwhile to buy a flight ticket to Europe and buy your amp or bookshelf speaker in Frankfurt, London or Paris, stay there one night and bring back your new piece of equipment as check in baggage on next day's flight to India. With large tower speakers it's of course not so easy.
 
Government is not bothered about niche markets where hardly any tax revenue is generated. And local manufacturers will benefit from the price increase of imported products. That is also ok.

But like someone else wrote already, grey imports will go up. It's now worthwhile to buy a flight ticket to Europe and buy your amp or bookshelf speaker in Frankfurt, London or Paris, stay there one night and bring back your new piece of equipment as check in baggage on next day's flight to India. With large tower speakers it's of course not so easy.

What local manufacturers?
 
What local manufacturers?

Well, there are only a few manufacturers here in India. The ones I know are Acoustic Portrait/Corrson (Bangalore), Cadence (Pune), Innovation Audio (Hyderabad), Lyrita (Delhi), Rethm (Cochi). There is also Rajiv Nair in Bangalore who makes his own tube amps and sells them. And a guy in Cochin, whose name I have forgotten, who also makes tube amps. Perhaps there are even a few more. But certainly not many more. Far too few for a huge country like India.
 
I personally prefer the manufacturers to start building the same in India to reduce costs. At least CKD route. Once they come inside, we can hope for better products in low price. Till then it's a gamble between what's officially in or grey in and personal imports or professional imports. It'll also brew a platform to local manufacturers to up their capabilities and bring up some nice products which might catch up with thoughtful audience.
 
Any update on this? Has anybody imported after the GST implementation and what is its impact?
Cheers,
Sid
 
Is there a break up on what was the customs portion of this 55% markup?

Will update, once I receive the invoice. I've made the payment and got an order confirmation so far.

Have also mailed ishopinternational for a quote on the Vidar, about a week back. Not a cheep from them, kind of unusual in the past I got a response within a day or so.

ciao
gr
 
Any update on this? Has anybody imported after the GST implementation and what is its impact?
Cheers,
Sid

I imported Aircom T9 cooling fan recently and here is the breakup on a total of $ 165 (CIF value)
- customs duty + edu cess of approx. 8%
- IGST of approx. 31%

DHL handling charges - Rs 500 + IGST @ 18%

HTH,

regards
 
I imported Aircom T9 cooling fan recently and here is the breakup on a total of $ 165 (CIF value)
- customs duty + edu cess of approx. 8%
- IGST of approx. 31%

DHL handling charges - Rs 500 + IGST @ 18%

HTH,

regards

So customs is at 39% for this order then. That's close to the 41% based on the communication I received from shop and ship. I guess this is the new rate then and we have to get used to it.
Cheers,
Sid
 
Unfortunately yes; its turning out a bit more expensive to import now :(
Even Borderlinx quoted me ~ 42% DDP
 
I bought several items at 41%. Yesterday Amazon refunded more than half the import duty for a recent order worth 15k, bringing the total duty down to 17.5%. I haven't received refunds on any other orders yet. I received a notice from customs for this order, requesting clarification about the item and intended use. Perhaps due to this it was somehow not classified as a "courier" import which has a blanket rate of 41%, and was instead classified according to the item's actual heading which was much lower.
 
Last edited:
The customs duty is the same as before but the govt. is adding 12% approx. as GST assuming that all items being imported are for resale.. That way it has collected GST in advance as it assumes the importer plans to sell it in the market... As and when the importer sells, they can offset their 12% with the GST on MRP and deposit the balance with the govt.

Since there are very few imports for personal use, the govt. has put in place a general policy where they take advance GST and it also discourages personal imports...

So if a dealer/distributor says the customs duty is 41%, please explain to them this logic...
 
Customs duty for personal imports through couriers (basically all online shopping) regardless of item classification is 35% BCD + misc which comes to 41%. It doesn't look like GST is levied on it or it will be 81%, since GST for personal imports is 28% regardless of item classification.

Licensed importers are not affected by this, unless the GST for the particular item is higher than the old taxes.
 
Last edited:
What about customs rates when you fly and bring in electronic equipment for personal use as part of personal baggage(Packaging included). I've ordered an AVR through a friend and wondering about the duty if any. Thanks.

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk
 
Hi:

I plan to buy the Denon X2300W form UK during my next trip (next month).
The invoice price would be 299 GBP.
(https://www.richersounds.com/product/av-receivers/denon/avrx2300w/deno-avrx2300-blk)
As per the new tax/import rules, what is the expected customs + import charges ?
Someone indicated its as high as 48% (of the invoice price).. Pls advise ..

Best retail price in India with warranty is 64K.. So, need to calculate if its worth carrying it from Uk with a warranty not of use in India.

Pls advise.

Sunith
 
Imported AVRs without warranty are available here much cheaper than the foreign price. There's no point in risking a massive customs charge. Up to Rs.50,000 is free if you bring it yourself.
 
Last edited:
Upto 50K is no charge ? In that case the receiver I mentioned (Denon X2300W) is 28K only in UK.. So, no duty/customs to be paid ?
Gray market price is 45K for the same product (no warranty).
 
The Marantz PM7000N offers big, spacious and insightful sound, class-leading clarity and a solid streaming platform in a award winning package.
Back
Top