Q. What is the rate of Customs duty in Baggage?

A. The rate of Customs duty in excess of Free Allowance is 40.8%.

Q. How much is duty on Laptop?

A. One Laptop per passenger of 18 years or above is allowed free of Customs duty if it is carried on accompanied baggage.

Q. How much is Free Allowance for a passenger?

A. Free Allowance admissible to a passenger (an Indian resident or a foreigner residing in India); under Baggage Rules; returning from countries other than Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar or China is as under:

For passengers of and above 10 years of age and returning after stay aboard of more than three days:

(i) Used personal effects, excluding jewellery, required for satisfying daily necessities of life.

(ii) Articles upto a value of Rs 25,000 if these are carried on the person or in the accompanied baggage of the passenger.

For passenger of and above 10 years of age and returning after stay abroad of three days or less:

(i) Used personal effects, excluding jewellery, required for satisfying daily necessities of life.

(ii) Articles upto a value of Rs 12,000 if these are carried on the person or in the accompanied baggage of the passenger.

For passengers upto 10 years of age and returning after stay abroad of more than three days:

(i) Used personal effects, excluding jewellery, required for satisfying daily necessities of life.

(ii) Articles upto a value of Rs 6,000 if these are carried on the person or in the accompanied baggage of the passenger.

For passengers upto 10 years of age and returning after say abroad of three days or less:

(i) Used personal effects, excluding jewellery, required for satisfying daily necessities of life.

(ii) Articles upto a value of Rs 3,000 if these are carried on the person or in the accompanied baggage of the passenger.

The free allowance under this rule shall not be allowed to be pooled with the free allowance of any other passenger.

An Indian resident or foreigner residing in India, returning from Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar or China, other than by land route, shall be allowed clearance free of duty articles in his bonafide baggage to the extent as under. Further, Indian resident or such foreigners returning from Pakistan, by land route, shall also be allowed clearance free duty articles in his bonafide baggage to the extent as under:

For passengers of and above 10 years of age and returning after stay abroad of more than three days:

(i) Used personal effects, excluding jewellery, required for satisfying daily necessities of life.

(ii) Articles upto a value of Rs 6,000 if these are carried on the person or in the accompanied baggage of the passenger.

For passengers upto 10 years of age and returning after stay abroad of three days or less:

(i) Used personal effects, excluding jewellery, required for satisfying daily necessities of life.

(ii) Articles upto a value of Rs 1,500 if these are carried on the person or in the accompanied baggage of the passenger.

Q. What is Free Allowance for Unaccompanied Baggage?

A. There is no free allowance for Unaccompanied Baggage, which is subject to Customs duty of 40.8%. However, concessional duty on specified items at the rate of 15.3% is charged in case of items subject to duty under TR and MTR.

Q. What is extra allowance for Professionals returning to India?

An Indian passenger who was engaged in his profession abroad shall on his return to India be allowed clearance free of duty, in addition to what he is allowed, articles in his bonafide baggage to the extent as under:

For Indian passenger returning after at least 3 months:

• (i) Used household articles upto an aggregate value of Rs 12,000.
  
  
• (ii) Professional equipment upto a value of Rs 20,000.
  
  Indian passenger returning after at least 6 months:
  
  
• (i) Used household articles upto an aggregate value of Rs 12,000.
  
  
• (ii) Professional equipment upto a value of Rs 40,000.

Q. What is the extra allowance for Indian passenger returning after one year?

A. Indian passenger returning after a stay of minimum 365 days during the preceding 2 years on termination of his work, and who has not availed this concession in the preceding three years is allowed the following benefit:

Used household articles and personal effects (which have been in the possession and use abroad of the passenger or his family for at least six months), and which are not mentioned in Annex I or Annexure II or Annexure III upto an aggregate value of Rs 75,000.

Further, Indian passenger who has been residing abroad for over one year is allowed

(i) Jewellery upto an aggregate value of Rs 10,000 by a gentleman passenger,

(ii) Upto an aggregate value of Rs 20,000 by a lady passenger.

In addition, the benefit of MTR is also allowed to passengers who have been working abroad for a minimum period of one year and returning to India on termination of their work.

Q. What are the allowances for tourists?

A. For Tourists of Indian origin other than those coming from Pakistan by land route:

(i) Used personal effects and travel souvenirs, if -

(a) these goods are for personal use of the tourist, and

(b) these goods, other than those consumed during the stay in India, are re-exported when the tourist leaves India for a foreign destination.

(ii) Articles as allowed to be cleared under rule 3 or rule 4.

For Tourists of foreign origin other than those of Nepalese origin coming from Nepal or of Bhutanese origin coming from Bhutan or of Pakistani origin coming from Pakistan:

(i) Used personal effects and travel souvenirs, if - (a) these goods are for personal use of the tourist, and

(b) these goods, other than those consumed during the stay in India, are re-exported when the tourist leaves India for a foreign destination.

(ii) Articles upto a value of Rs 8,000 for making gifts.

For Tourists or Nepalese origin coming from Nepal or of Bhutanese origin coming from Bhutan:

No free allowance.

For Tourists of Pakistani origin or foreign tourists coming from Pakistan or tourists of India origin coming from Pakistan by land route:

(i) Used personal effects and travel souvenirs, if -

(a) these goods are for personal use of the tourist, and

(b) these goods, other than those consumed during the stay in India, are re-exported when the tourist leaves India for a foreign destination.

(ii) Articles upto a value of Rs 6,000 for making gifts.

Q. What are the conditions for availing benefit of Transfer of Residence ?

A. (1) Minimum stay of two years abroad, immediately preceding the date of his arrival on TR,

(2) Total stay in India on short visit during the 2 preceding years should not exceed 6 months, and

(3) Passenger has not availed this concession in the preceding three years.

Q. What are the benefits of availing Transfer of Residence?

A. Articles allowed free of duty in case of Transfer of Residence are:

Used personal and household articles, other than those listed at Annex I or Annex II, but the article listed at Annexure III and jewellery upto ten thousand rupees by as gentleman passenger or rupees twenty thousand by a lady passenger.

The following items (one unit of each item per family) are duty free under TR (Transfer of Residence) or MTR (Mini Transfer of Residence):

• 1. Video Cassette Recorder or Video Cassette Player or Video Television Receiver or Video Cassette Disk Player.
• 2. Washing Machine.
• 3. Electrical or Liquefied Petroleum Gas Cooking Range.
• 4. Personal Computer (Desktop Computer).
• 5. Laptop Computer (Notebook Computer).
• 6. Domestic Refrigerators of capacity up to 300 litres or its equivalent.

The following items (one unit of each item per family) are allowed at concessional rate of Customs duty of 15.3% in case of TR and MTR.

• 1. Colour Television or Monochrome Television.
• 2. Digital Video Disc Player.
• 3. Video Home Theatre System.
• 4. Dish Washer.
• 5. Music System.
• 6. Air-Conditioner.
• 7. Domestic refrigerators of capacity above 300 litres or its equivalent.
• 8. Deep Freezer.
• 9. Microwave Oven.
• 10. Video camera or the combination of any such video camera with one or more of the following goods, namely:
  
  (a) Television Receiver;
  
  (b) Sound recording or reproducing apparatus;
  
  (c) Video reproducing apparatus.
  
  
• 11. Word Processing Machine.
• 12. Fax Machine.
• 13. Portable Photocopying Machine.
• 14. Cinematographic films of 35 mm and above.
  
  Q. What items are restricted in Baggage?
  
  A. The following items are not allowed to be imported in Baggage:
• 1. Fire arms.
• 2. Cartridges of fire arms exceeding 50.
• 3. Cigarettes Exceeding 200 or cigars exceeding 50 or tobacco exceeding 250 gms.
• 4. Alcoholic liquor or wines in excess of two litres.
• 5. Gold or silver, in any form, other than ornaments.

Q. Whether a vehicle can be imported under Baggage?

A. Import of vehicles is not allowed under Baggage. However, passengers coming to India under Transfer of Residence are allowed to bring one vehicle subject to specified conditions. However, no duty concession is admissible and Tariff rate of duty is required to be paid.

Though Indians continue to be the most successful ethnic group in America, the community has problems of poverty, according to the US Census Bureau's American Community Survey.

The poverty rate for families nationally is 10.2 percent; for the Indian community it is 6.1 percent. That means 6.1 percent of Indian-American families now live below the poverty level. According to recent guidelines, a family of four earning less than $20,000 (about Rs 8.92 lakh) a year is considered as living in poverty.

Nationally the individual poverty rate is 13.3. For the Indians it is 8.4 percent. A person earning less than $9,800 (about Rs 4.32 lakh) a year is classified thus.

The per capita income for Indians is $33,431 (about Rs 15 lakh); nationally it is $25,035 (about Rs 11.65 lakh).

But the median household income for Indians is much higher than the national income at $73,575 (about Rs 32.81 lakh); nationally it is $46,242 (about Rs 20.62 lakh).

Another finding of the American Community Survey is that the population of Indians and other South Asians grew faster in cities like New York and Washington, DC.

On the national level, more than 600,000 Indians were added to the national population in the last five years, a growth rate with no precedent in the history of the immigration of Indians to the US.

From almost 16.7 lakh in 2000, the Indian population grew to 23 lakh in 2005, (margin of error: +/-41,272), the highest for any Asian country.

Nationally, the Chinese are still the number one Asian community with 28.82 lakh people. Indians now rank second, according to the American Community Survey, which was published last week.

The 2000 Census found the Indians the fastest growing Asian community with a 106 percent growth during the period 1990-2000. The Filipinos then ranked second in numbers after the Chinese. In five years Indians have pushed the Filipinos to third place.

Indians are most heavily concentrated in five states: California, New York, New Jersey, Texas and Illinois.

The top 5 cities with Indians are New York, San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington, DC.

Other findings: 27.5 percent of the Indians entered the US after 2000. 38.5 percent entered the US between 1990 and 1999. 33.9 percent arrived before 1990.

Among the Indians, native born number 5.88 lakh. 68.2 percent of Indians are employed; nationally it is 65.9 percent. 89.4 percent of Indians have one or more vehicle; nationally it is 91.1 percent.

Though the census is conducted only once in ten years the Census Bureau conducts the annual survey which benchmarks key population statistics. The Survey only counts the number of people living in households excluding the population living in institutions, colleges and other group quarters. The Indian population would be higher than the current count if the numbers of Indians from colleges and other group quarters is added to the current figure.

The number of Indians has gone up in New Jersey from 170,000 in 2000 to 230,000 in five years, a growth rate of 35 percent. While Indians are the biggest ethnic Asian community in New Jersey, their numbers have grown in states like Michigan, Minnesota and Pennsylvania.

New York City is a major destination for South Asians, the survey discovered.

In New York the Chinese are the largest Asian group with 4.28 lakh people but their growth has slowed down as the number of Indians and other South Asians goes up.

'In 2009, when many City Council seats open up, I think we may have a fair chance of electing our first South Asian to the City Council,' Bryan Pu-Folkes, executive director of the Queens, New York-based group New Immigrant Community Empowerment, told the New York Daily News newspaper.

Washington, DC too has become a gateway for immigrants from South Asia.

There are more than 1 million immigrants in the area � one out of every five people.

The Indian population in the area -- which increased by 50 percent in the past five years -- has the highest median income of any group, at $87,369 (about Rs 39 lakh). The median household income for the region was $74,708 (about 33.31 lakh) in 2005, according to the survey. About eight in 10 Indians in the region are foreign born.

Wal-Mart to enter Indian market

It is going to be a large investment, we are going to be a big player in this market Bharti boss Sunil Mittal   Profile: who is Sunil Mittal? US supermarket giant Wal-Mart is to enter the Indian retail market after announcing a joint agreement with India's Bharti Enterprises. The two companies said they had signed a deal to "jointly explore business opportunities" in India. Bharti chairman Sunil Mittal said the two companies intended to open "several hundred" stores across India under the Wal-Mart brand name. Wal-Mart's deal comes after Britain's Tesco ended talks with Bharti. Tesco had hoped to reach a similar deal with Bharti, but its negotiations ended without agreement last week. Bharti had also spoken with France's Carrefour and Germany's Metro, according to reports. Fast-growing market The Bharti joint venture is a huge opportunity for Wal-Mart to gain a foothold in a market analysts expect will double in value to $637bn (£330bn) by 2015. "Wal-Mart was keen to get into India. I think they have chosen the right partner," said Mr Mittal. Analysts expect the big players to account for a large share of growth in retailing that is bound to come with India's rising middle class Andrew Walker, BBC economics correspondent "It is going to be a large investment, we are going to be a big player in this market." Large overseas retailers such as Tesco and Wal-Mart are currently barred at the retail level in India, but not in the wholesale market. Mr Mittal said the deal with Wal-Mart complied with existing government rules, suggesting Wal-Mart will handle the supply side of the operation, while Bharti will run the stores. Closed reaction Bharti is a well-known brand in India, offering mobile phone services to more than 24 million users. The company is keen to expand its business reach and tap further into India's rapid economic expansion, growing middle class and rising consumer demand, analysts said. India's economy is growing rapidly Bharti's agreement with Wal-Mart is likely to run into opposition from India's small shopkeepers, who currently account for the majority of retail sales, said BBC World Service economics correspondent Andrew Walker. "They are often family businesses and they are worried that lowering the barriers to Wal-Mart and others might cost them dearly," he said. "Certainly analysts expect the big players to account for a large share of growth in retailing that is bound to come with India's rising middle class."