Air Customs Chennai International Airport Welcomes You

AIR CUSTOMS
CHENNAI
INTERNATIONAL
AIRPORT
WELCOMES YOU
BAGGAGE RULES
AN INTRODUCTION
Arrival
- Immigration clearance
Scanning of Hand Baggage /
- Passing through the Door Frame Metal Detector
- Collection of Checked-in baggage from conveyor belt
- Customs clearance: Green channel / Red Channel
- Governed by The Baggage Rules, 2016

Green channel: A passenger can walk through green
channel if he/she does not have any dutiable goods or
if the value of dutiable goods under their possession
is equal to or less than the free allowance applicable
to the passenger.
Red channel: Passengers having dutiable goods with a

declared value more than their free allowance shall
report at red channel for customs clearance.
How to distinguish: Red channel passengers have to

fill the Indian Customs Declaration Form that will be
provided in the flight or available at the
Customs PRO desk. Green channel passengers do not
require to fill the Customs Declaration Form
What is a baggage? :
As per Section 2 (3) of the Customs Act, 1962 ‘ baggage includes
unaccompanied baggage but does not include vehicles ‘. It is a broad
definition
According to wikipedia, Baggage consists of bags, cases, and containers

which hold a traveller's articles during travel.
The modern traveller can be expected to have packages containing clothing,

toiletries, small possessions, trip necessities, and on the return-trip,
souvenirs.
To be precise the baggage of a passenger is supposed to have the personal
items required for the trip and souvenirs / gifts.
“personal effects” means things required for satisfying daily necessities
but does not include jewellery.
Hence in a broader perspective an international passenger’s baggage is
expected to contain his clothings, items for personal use like toiletries,
trip necessities like lap top, mobile phone etc., and house hold
items.
Resident: A person holding a valid Indian
passport and normally residing in India.
Tourist: A person not normally resident in

India who enters India for stay of not
more than six months in the course of
any twelve months period for legitimate non
immigrant purposes.
Infant: a child not more than two years

of age.
Free allowance: An Indian resident or a foreigner residing in
India or a tourist of Indian origin, not being an infant, shall
be allowed clearance free of duty articles in his bona fide
baggage i.e., used personal effects, travel souvenirs and articles
other than those in Annexure I
up to a value of Rs.50,000/- provided they are not arriving from
Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar or China
Free allowance for a tourist of foreign origin: Rs.15,000/-
Free allowance for an infant: Only used personal effects are

allowed free
Free allowance of a passenger shall not be allowed to be

pooled with the free allowance of any other passenger.
Free allowance of passengers arriving from Nepal, Bhutan,

Myanmar or China: Rs.15,000/-
Annexure I / goods are goods for which free
allowance is not applicable:
•Fire arms
•Cartridges of fire arms exceeding 50
•Cigarettes exceeding 100 or cigars exceeding 25 or
tobacco exceeding 125 gms
•Alcoholic liquor or wines in excess of 2 litres
•Gold or silver in any form, other than ornaments
•Flat panel (LCD/LED/Plasma) television
Other items allowed free:

One laptop computer (note book) if imported by a
passenger of the age 18 or above.
Rate of duty: 35% customs duty + 10% social welfare
surcharge cess on the declared / arrived at value on
all goods
#other than:
Alcoholic liquor: 150% + 10 % social welfare surcharge
Tobacco products: 100% + 10% S.W. surcharge
#Duty shall be calculated only on the value in excess of

free allowance.
Jewellery – (FREE OF DUTY)
Eligibility: Stay abroad for

more than one year
Male passenger: 20 grams or

upto Rs.50000/- value
Female passenger: 40 grams

or upto Rs.100000/- value
Import of gold (bullion/coins/jewellery) as baggage:
Who can: Any passenger of Indian origin or person holding a valid

Indian passport
Eligibility: who is coming to India after a period of not less than

six months (short visits up to 30 days permitted)
•Concessional duty of 10% + 10% social welfare surcharge as

per the existing law is to be paid in convertible foreign currency.
•The weight of the gold should not exceed 1 kg per passenger.
•The passenger can either bring the gold himself at the time of arrival
or import the same within fifteen days of his arrival in India
as unaccompanied baggage.
•The pax can also buy the permitted quantity of gold from customs
bonded warehouse of State Bank of India or MMTC.
•In case of (d) he has to file a form with the customs at the arrival
hall.
Import of silver (bar/coins/jewellery):
Who can: passenger of Indian origin or person holding a valid
Indian passport
Eligibility: who is coming to India after a period of not less than six
months (short visits up to 30 days permitted)
•Concessional duty of 10% + 10% social welfare surcharge as

per the existing law is paid in convertible foreign currency.
•The weight of the silver should not exceed 10 kgs per
passenger
•The passenger can either bring the gold himself at the time of arrival
or import the same within fifteen days of his arrival in India as
unaccompanied baggage
•The pax can also buy the permitted quantity of silver from customs
bonded warehouse of state bank of India or MMTC.
•In case of (d) he has to file a form with the customs at the arrival
hall.
Import / export of currency:
Indian currency:
Export of Indian currency is prohibited. Indian residents while going abroad may
carry Indian currency upto Rs.25000/- while going abroad.
The limit of Rs.25000/- applies to incoming passengers too.
Foreign currency:
No limit for carrying foreign currency by outgoing Indian residents provided they are
purchased from authorised foreign exchange dealers.
Tourists while leaving India are allowed to take with them the foreign currency not
exceeding an amount brought by them at the time of arrival in India.
Foreign exchange in excess of 10000 US dollars (5000 USD in cash & 5000 USD in
Travellers cheques) is required to be declared by Tourists of foreign origin, Non
Resident Indians etc. at the time of arrival into India.
For this purpose a Currency Declaration Form is available in the arrival hall.
Common examples of prohibited
goods(Not permitted for import):
•Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic
substances
•Pornographic material
•Counterfeit and pirated goods and
goods infringing any of the legally
enforceable intellectual property
rights
•Fake Indian Currency Notes
•Antiquities
Common examples of restricted goods (can be imported subject to
conditions):
•Firearms and ammunition (can only be imported under Transfer of
Residence subject to other conditions like valid arms license from local
authorities, possession of the fire arm for a minimum period of one year
abroad, non disposal of the fire arm after import & facility available only
once)
•Live birds and animals including pets ( import of pets (only cats and
dogs) upto two numbers per passenger is allowed in baggage only under TR
after two years of stay abroad and subject to production of health certificate
from country of origin and examination of the said pets by the Animal
Quarantine)
•Plants and their produce i.e., fruits & seeds (permitted for personal
consumption subject to a monetary ceiling of Rs.2000/-)
•Endangered species of plants and animals, whether live or dead
(subject to clearance by plant / animal quarantine)
•Any goods for commercial purpose – for profit, gain or commercial
usage (have to be subjected to penal action)
•Radio transmitters / drones not approved for normal usage
•Gold and silver, other than ornaments (permitted only for eligible
passengers)
•
Examples of house hold / Office / items that be cleared on
payment of duty:
Television sets,
DVD / Blue Ray Disc players,
Home theatre systems,
Dish washer,
Music systems,
Air conditioner,
Refrigerators,
Deep freezer,
Microwave oven,
Video camera,
Fax machine,
Personal Computer,
Portable Photo copying machine,
cooking range,
printers etc.
X-ray scanning:
Scanning of all hand / checked in baggage is

mandatory.
Selected / suspected baggage may be taken up

at the green channel for re-scanning.
Baggage with scan marks will be subjected to

re- scanning or opening and examination by
customs officers.
Procedure for duty payment:
•Pax to approach Red Channel Customs Tables with filled

in Customs Declaration Form
•Pax to produce proof of transaction value of dutiable goods
•Oral declaration or proof of transaction value is usually
accepted unless there is drastic difference in price is noticed
•Otherwise the pax is informed about the value arrived at
•Baggage Receipt (BR) is prepared, pax signature obtained, ACO
& ACS sign the BR
•Pax is directed to the SBI counter for payment of duty
•Duty can be paid in Indian / foreign currency
•Pax receives two copies of BR from Bank counter and produces it at
the Red channel
•Duty paid details verified, green copy retained and pax walks
out with the passenger’s copy of BR
Baggage of deceased person:
Used, bona fide personal and

household articles belonging to a
deceased person are allowed to be
imported free of duty subject to
production of Certificate from the
concerned Indian Embassy / High
Commission regarding the ownership
of the goods.
Detained baggage:
Baggage brought by a passenger may be detained by

customs –
- on request of the passenger for re-export at
the time of his subsequent departure provided the
passenger has made a true and proper declaration
of the goods under Section 77 of the Customs Act,
1962
- or for clearance subsequently on payment

of duty or in cases where there are violations of the
provisions of the customs act the subject goods are
detained for further action like adjudication /
confiscation
Mishandled Baggage:
There are times when the baggage of the passenger is

mishandled by the airlines (baggage does not arrive
with the passenger).
In such cases the passenger has to approach the
concerned airlines and fill up a Property Irregularity
Report (PIR) which will be verified and certified by
customs.
If no dutiable goods are declared in the mishandled
baggage they may be cleared by the concerned
airlines and delivered to the passenger.
If the mishandled baggage contains dutiable goods,
then the presence of the passenger is required for
clearance of the goods on payment of duty.
Export Certificate:
Passengers can avail the facility of taking ‘ Export

Certificates ‘ at the time of departure for high value
items such as Camera, professional equipment etc.
from Customs
In case of jewellery a Valuation Certificate issued by

a Government Authorised Gold valuer (list is available
in the Air Customs website) accompanied with
photographs of the jewellery attested by the valuer
shall be produced for issue of ‘ Export Certificate ‘
At the time of import of these items they are verified by

the Customs Officers and allowed free of duty.
Items prohibited for export:
•Species of wild life and articles made

from wild flora and fauna such as ivory,
musk, reptile skins, furs, etc
•Narcotic Drugs and psychotropic

substances
•Antiquities
•Fire arms
Offences under the Customs Act and other
allied acts
•Attempt to walk through the Green channel

with prohibited, restricted or dutiable goods
•Misdeclaration of goods and their value at the

Red Channel
•Attempt to export prohibited or restricted

goods
•Abet the commission of any of the above

offences i.e., helping in any of these activities
What will be the consequences:
• Absolute confiscation of the goods
• Imposition of heavy fine for release of the

goods
•Imposition of penalty on the passenger or

airlines
•Arrest and prosecution including invocation

of preventive detention in serious cases
Drones
Import of drones with recordable camera is restricted.
type approval by the WPC (Wireless Planning & Co-Ordination

Wing) of the Ministry of Tele-Communications is pre-requisite for
import of such drones.
If the particular type of wireless equipment is not approved then

type approval shall be obtained by applying to WPC through their
website.
Use of drones with camera recording facility in public places is

restricted and requires permission from local police authorities.

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AIR CUSTOMS

Scanning of Hand Baggage /

- Passing through the Door Frame Metal Detector

- Collection of Checked-in baggage from conveyor belt

- Customs clearance: Green channel / Red Channel

- Governed by The Baggage Rules, 2016

Red channel: Passengers having dutiable goods with a

How to distinguish: Red channel passengers have to

According to wikipedia, Baggage consists of bags, cases, and containers

The modern traveller can be expected to have packages containing clothing,

Tourist: A person not normally resident in

Infant: a child not more than two years

Free allowance for a tourist of foreign origin: Rs.15,000/-

Free allowance for an infant: Only used personal effects are

Free allowance of a passenger shall not be allowed to be

Free allowance of passengers arriving from Nepal, Bhutan,

Other items allowed free:

Alcoholic liquor: 150% + 10 % social welfare surcharge

Tobacco products: 100% + 10% S.W. surcharge

#Duty shall be calculated only on the value in excess of

Eligibility: Stay abroad for

Male passenger: 20 grams or

Female passenger: 40 grams

Who can: Any passenger of Indian origin or person holding a valid

Eligibility: who is coming to India after a period of not less than

•Concessional duty of 10% + 10% social welfare surcharge as

•Concessional duty of 10% + 10% social welfare surcharge as

The limit of Rs.25000/- applies to incoming passengers too.

Scanning of all hand / checked in baggage is

Selected / suspected baggage may be taken up

Baggage with scan marks will be subjected to

•Pax to approach Red Channel Customs Tables with filled

Used, bona fide personal and

Baggage brought by a passenger may be detained by

- or for clearance subsequently on payment

There are times when the baggage of the passenger is

Passengers can avail the facility of taking ‘ Export

In case of jewellery a Valuation Certificate issued by

At the time of import of these items they are verified by

•Species of wild life and articles made

•Narcotic Drugs and psychotropic

•Attempt to walk through the Green channel

•Misdeclaration of goods and their value at the

•Attempt to export prohibited or restricted

•Abet the commission of any of the above

• Absolute confiscation of the goods

• Imposition of heavy fine for release of the

•Imposition of penalty on the passenger or

•Arrest and prosecution including invocation

Import of drones with recordable camera is restricted.

type approval by the WPC (Wireless Planning & Co-Ordination

If the particular type of wireless equipment is not approved then

Use of drones with camera recording facility in public places is

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