India Duty-Free Baggage Allowance: The ₹75,000 Limit
An Indian-resident traveller can bring goods worth up to ₹75,000 per trip into India without paying customs duty. A foreign national gets ₹25,000. Anything above your limit is charged duty on the excess. One laptop or tablet per trip is exempt on top of that, whatever it costs.
Want a number for your own trip? Try the duty-free allowance calculator.
Duty-free baggage allowance for residents, NRIs and foreign nationals
| Who is travelling | Duty-free allowance per trip |
|---|---|
| Indian resident | ₹75,000 |
| NRI or foreign passport holder with an OCI or PIO card | ₹75,000 |
| NRI or foreign national without an OCI or PIO card | ₹25,000 |
The allowance is set per traveller.
What happens if you go over the ₹75,000 limit
Duty applies to the value above your allowance. The exact amount is decided by Customs at clearance, and allowances and rates can change, so treat any estimate as a planning figure rather than a final bill. If you're carrying more than your allowance, declare it at the Red Channel instead of walking through the nothing-to-declare lane.
Laptop and tablet allowance (separate from the ₹75,000)
One laptop or tablet per trip is fully exempt from customs duty no matter how expensive it is. It sits separately from, and on top of, the general ₹75,000. If you bring both a laptop and a tablet, only the pricier one is exempt; the other counts toward your ₹75,000 along with everything else.
Why a duty-free purchase can still attract duty in India
A duty-free shop sells goods without the local taxes of the country the airport is in. Whether Indian duty applies when you land depends on the total value you bring in compared with your allowance.
Duty-free limits in other countries (UAE, Singapore, UK, US)
Each destination sets its own limit. These are the thresholds Smuggl currently tracks:
| Destination | Threshold |
|---|---|
| India | ₹75,000 (resident) / ₹25,000 (foreign national) |
| United Arab Emirates | AED 3,000 |
| Singapore | S$500 |
| United Kingdom | £390 (crossing it taxes the full order value, not just the excess) |
| United States | $800 |
How the allowance works when someone brings items home for you
- A Smugglbear's trip dashboard shows a running allowance gauge: your limit against everything you've agreed to carry on that trip.
- When an order's value passes the destination's threshold, Smuggl estimates the duty and adds it to the shopper's held payment as its own line item before they pay, so the Smugglbear is never out of pocket at the border.
- Separate items can be spread across more than one Smugglbear. That only applies to genuinely independent purchases; splitting one purchase to stay under a threshold isn't permitted.
This guide is general information, not legal or customs advice. Customs decides what applies at clearance, and each traveller is responsible for declaring what they carry. See Section 3 of the Terms of Service.
India duty-free allowance: common questions
What is India's duty-free baggage allowance?
₹75,000 total value per trip for an Indian-resident traveller, and ₹25,000 for a foreign-national traveller, under the Baggage Rules. Go over it and customs duty applies to the excess. The exact duty owed is determined by Customs at clearance, and allowances and rates can change.
As an NRI, do I get ₹75,000 or ₹25,000?
It depends on whether you hold an OCI or PIO card. Hold one and you keep the full resident ₹75,000 allowance. Without one, you're treated as a foreign national and capped at ₹25,000.
Does a laptop or tablet count toward the ₹75,000 limit?
No. One laptop or tablet per trip is exempt from customs duty regardless of its value, separate from and on top of the general ₹75,000 allowance. If you bring both, only the pricier of the two is exempt; the other counts toward the ₹75,000.
Are products bought at a duty-free shop exempt from Indian customs duty?
Not automatically. "Duty-free" describes where the product was sold, a duty-free shop in a customs-controlled zone. Whether Indian duty applies when you land depends on the value of everything you bring in against your allowance.
Want it brought home by someone you know?
Get notified when Smuggl launches