Taking a TV back home to India? Think again

The plunging Indian rupee has so far been a reason to rejoice for Indian expats, but it may soon be turning into a bane.
The Indian government’s decision to impose a 36-percent customs duty on flat-screen TVs from Aug. 26 to prop up the weak rupee means Indian expats will have to shell out big bucks to transfer TV sets from here back home.
“Blindly imposing a 36-percent custom duty on non-resident Indians (NRIs) is not a solution. We expats, especially those of us living in the Gulf, are working hard to earn a living, and in many cases to make ends meet. This system cannot prop up the weak rupee,” said Saleem Ahmed, an Indian engineer in Saudi Binladin Group in Jeddah.
Ahmed, who took a flat-screen TV to India last year, said the move would only lead to more corruption in India.
“Corrupt customs officials will demand bribes in exchange for concelling import taxes. Thus, eventually, the purpose of this TV tax would be defeated and the government will not benefit,” he said.
Earlier, Indian expats and other Indians on a holiday anywhere else in the world could carry one flat TV (plasma/LED/LCD) for personal use, worth up to Rs35,000 (approximately SR2,050) as part of their baggage allowance, without incurring any customs duty.
Buying an imported 32-inch LED television costs up to $474 in New Delhi compared with approximately $350 in Jeddah, making the duty free exemption for air travelers a convenient way to get a cheaper TV into India.
That loophole will close next Monday with the Indian moratorium issued on the practice, citing the declining Indian rupee.
The move is by no means one that affects a small segment of Indian expats; Indians returning from abroad take nearly 3,000 flat screen televisions into the country a day.
Electronics retailers in India have long been complaining about duty-free TV imports from abroad, as they incur losses owing to cheaper international TV prices compared to retail prices in India.
Some Indian expats though are upbeat about the new tax policy.
“This is a good move on the part of the Indian government. I have seen many people at Indian airports bringing LCD/LED TVs from various countries. All international brand televisions are available in India and buying them there will save big manufacturers in the country. It will boost the Indian economy, if not immediately, at least in the long run,” said Riaz Ahamed Khan, an Indian IT professional in Rajab and Silsilah Co., Jeddah.
Khan, who has been working in the Kingdom for 13 years, is using a recently purchased LCD TV that he plans to take to India when he returns for good.
“If this used television is going to cost me so much more in India in the form of duty charges, I would rather leave it here,” he said.
The 36-percent TV tax is not the first piece of bad news for NRIs. Earlier, higher taxes were slapped on gold imports.
The rupee plummeted to new lows against the dollar on a near daily basis. A dollar now buys more than 63 rupees, a decline of 8 percent for the rupee so far this August.
Indian Finance Minister P. Chidambaram defended the government’s efforts in Parliament on Tuesday. To halt the rupee’s decline, he said the government is trying to stem demand for nonessential imports while also encouraging an inflow of money.