Dubai: A new travel advisory with respect to carrying gold to India has been issued by the UAE Embassy in the subcontinent.
The UAE Embassy in India is urging all UAE nationals to disclose all their gold jewellery at the airports.
The move is expected to help travellers avoid legal hassles.
In its tweet, posted a day ago, @UAEembassyIndia said it “urges UAE nationals wishing to visit India to disclose their gold jewelery to the relevant authorities at Indian airports in order to avoid legal accountability.”
So who can import gold as baggage to India?
According to the Customs Guide for travellers put up by the Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi, “An Indian passenger [citizen] who has been residing abroad for over one year is allowed to bring jewellery, free of duty in his bonafide baggage, up to an aggregate value of Rs50,000 (Dh2,683) in the case of a male passenger or Rs1,00,000 (Dh5,366) in the case of a lady passenger.”
In July, the Indian Government hiked import duty on gold from 10 to 12.5 per cent.
How much gold you can carry?
Rs100,000 or Dh5,366 worth of gold if you are a woman, which means around 31 grams of gold jewellery (factoring a making charge of Dh10 per gram).
Rs50,000 or Dh2,583 worth of gold if you are man, which means around 14 grams of gold jewllery (factoring a making charge of Dh10 per gram).
Other conditions
(i) The duty shall be paid in convertible foreign currency at the current rate of duty (12.5 per cent).
(ii) The weight of gold (including ornaments) should not exceed 1kg per passenger.
(iii) The passenger can either bring the gold himself at the time of arrival or import the same within 15 days of his arrival in India as unaccompanied baggage.
(iv) The passenger can also obtain the permitted quantity of gold from Customs bonded warehouse of State Bank of India and Metals and Minerals Trading Corporation subject to conditions.