'Exempt household goods, don't let Customs extort money': Mohandas Pai urges FM Sitharaman

Aarin Capital chairman Mohandas Pai on Sunday urged Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to introduce blanket exemptions and self-declaration norms for returning Indians to prevent what he described as "harassment and bribes" by Customs officials.

"Madame Sitharaman, please see the harassment and bribes that returning citizens have to pay. Please give them blanket exemption to get all household goods they want. Without duty, provided it is more than 6 months old. Let there be a self-declaration not allow customs to extort money. We owe it to our citizens. Need some reforms," Pai wrote on X.

His appeal came after several social media users narrated their experiences with Customs officials while moving household goods back to India.

Rishabh Mukherjee, a social media user, described an incident from 2021 when he returned to India after six years abroad. "In 2021, I was moving back to India after living abroad for 6 years. Among my household items was a 5-year-old digital photo frame. I had bought it for something like Rs 3000. But for some reason I didn't keep the receipt. Customs fellows looked up the most expensive digital frame made by that company in India (a price which includes duties) and then levied something like 30-40% on it as duty," he wrote. 

"Failure to pay this would hold up my entire shipment of household goods (which was almost quarter of a container). The final duty that they wanted to collect was ~15K. Shipping agent told me that I could pay 50% in cash or pay the duty. I officially paid the duty. I thought of it as a donation to GoI, but no way I'd pay anything to anyone under the table," Mukherjee added.

Amit Goel, Chief Product Officer at Moving Walls, shared a similar ordeal. He said it happened with him too when he moved back from Singapore to Bangalore for a short period and shipped his household goods back. "I still had to pay 39% duty even if I could purchase receipt. And of course, another amount as a 'goodwill' amount for getting my work done and to be able to receive clearance. At one point in time, I thought to just let go of everything. But from now on, I have decided to avoid customs ever or just bring those things that I can afford to lose," he posted.

The public accounts of harassment come amid mounting criticism of Customs practices after Tamil Nadu-based logistics firm Wintrack Inc announced it would halt its import-export operations from October 1, alleging "relentless harassment" by Chennai Customs.