Customs Clearance in Mumbai, India (Part 14)

Jai Hind

Anyways, there were far too many negative experiences on the Internet about interaction with Customs Official. I wanted to share this tiring but yet clean and positive experience to keep the eternal hope alive in us typical Indians. If any of you read this and if you are looking for information on doing customs clearance yourself, then I hope you find strength from my experience. Jai Hind!

P.S.: Here’s an advisable list of documents to carry for your customs clearance (a bit on the higher side to avoid a painful round-trip outside the ACC Complex for a photocopy):

1. Four copies of the front page of your passport and 2-3 copies of the last page. I had carried copies of every page of my passport that had some sort of stamp or visa on it. But that was not required anywhere. No harm in carrying at least one copy of all non-blank pages of your passport.
2. Three copies of the Airway Bill sent to you by your US Shipping Company.
3. Three copies of the Delivery Order and the House Airway Bill (i.e. copies of documents given to you by your forwarding agent)
4. Original Set of Delivery Order and Other documents given to you by your Forwarding Agent.
5. Original Passport + Old Passport if it has expired within last three years.
6. Packing List
7. A print of the Transfer of Residence / Customs relevant to your case from an official website with their banner visible (it may act like an unstated deterrent for demands for a bribe).

Tip: Carry some nuts, cereal bar and small bottle of water at the least to help maintain a firm resolve through your time at the ACC Complex.

Read Part 13

Read Part 1

Customs Clearance in Mumbai, India (Part 13)

If only

There were several parts of the clearance process where transparency and improvements can bring dramatic benefits and reduce the time, effort and cost. I explained to one of my uncles that I grew up in Mumbai and was educated in our Indian institutions and practiced the Indian ways. And it was ironic, that United States of America invited me on a special visa and paid me great amounts to come to their country. Part of my job there was to sit with both my palms under my chin and observe processes in their Companies / Government Departments. I would then document my observations and recommend that a particular chain in the process be tweaked in this fashion and if/when they made that change, they would reap tremendous benefits. My clients would sit up and react like… “wait a minute… what just happened here… how the… ”. And then they would applaud and publicly recognize my inputs and appreciate me to the sky. And all this was with the same Indian upbringing and education. And yet, when I was in India or even when I am now back in India, there will be no value to my voice or suggestions.

I am sure that many private sector people will immediately protest to the above statements. They may be even partly correct in doing so. But I have lost all energy to go around finding those few likeminded people who are likely to understand my thoughts and ideas. I just don’t want to commute to work in Mumbai unless I can just take a 10 minutes walk to my office. Neither do I want to work more than 40 hours a week. I guess I just don’t have the stamina left to put up a protracted fight.

Part 12 Part 14 

 

Customs Clearance in Mumbai, India (Part 12)

The Joy Ride

I must mention that it had rained that afternoon and the floor of the tempo was all wet. I requested the tempo owner to at least spread a plastic sheet before putting my boxes that had magically survived till now. My wife had teased me about lining each box with plastic sheets when we were packing the boxes in USA. I had reminded her about the Mumbai monsoons and told her that there were several places where our boxes could be damaged before they eventually reached our home and it would do us no harm in throwing in an extra plastic sheet in each box. We both exchanged scared glances as the boxes were loaded on a patchy inadequate plastic sheet. My wife and I decided to make it a fun ride and we both sat on the long-enough front seat along with the driver of the tempo. I left the ACC Complex at around 4:30 p.m. and elated to have not paid any bribe that day.

As we pulled out of ACC Complex after showing the Gate Pass and clearance for the boxes, the rain started pouring in with increased vigor. This adventure was not yet over. Suddenly, I noticed that water was leaking heavily into the rear of the tempo pretty and over a few boxes. I requested the driver to cover them with something and he threw in a bigging mat over the boxes while waiting at a traffic light. The driver was not the tempo owner but just a local guy hired to drive that union member’s tempo. He too started bitterly complaining about the unfair and exorbitant charges and telling me of the high-handed ways of the union. I was feeling sorry to have stood up Rupesh and so I called him apologizing for the mistake for wasting his day (just because I didn’t know about the difference between the cargo and baggage sections). He gracefully told me not to worry about it and that it was not my fault since I was new to ACC Complex.

I asked the driver a couple of times whether he had to take another route due to the commercial vehicle restrictions as per traffic rules but he assured me that after 5pm, it was okay to take his chosen route. Inevitably a couple of Traffic Constables ( who are lovingly called Pandus in Mumbai by their victims) caught the poor driver. When he came back, I asked him what did he do wrong. He told the traffic cop that he was officially allowed to drive a commercial vehicle on that route after 5 p.m. and the cop still took a bribe of Rs.10 to let him go. Today, Mumbai has become so costly that even a beggar may return back Rs. 10 but it was pathetic to see that a traffic cop fleeced a poor boy for Rs. 10 (the driver was actually a young and poor lad and looked every bit so).

My wife and I heaved a collective sigh of relief after all the boxes were setup in our home. The boxes survived the ordeal and so did we. I was elated and informed all my well wishers that the boxes did arrive safely and that we did the Customs Clearance ourselves without any corruption or bribery. I was relieved to see decent people in the Customs Office who performed their duties diligently without any expectation of any bribes.

 

Part 11 Part 13

 

 

 

Customs Clearance in Mumbai, India (Part 11)

Final moments in ACC

Anyways, the customs loader who brought the boxes up to the gate was expecting a “baksheesh” (reward) for his effort but I was determined not to bribe anyone at this last juncture even at the cost of being thought as petty. I had officially paid Rs. 955 as handling charges and that should take care of the services of the loader. I had to pay an additional Rs. 100 to another loader to load the truck and conceded to pay the driver Rs.100 additionally to unload the boxes and take them up to my residential flat in an elevator / lift. All told, the drivers and the loaders costed me Rs. 1,200 as opposed to Rs. 600 that I would have paid to Rupesh.

I have sent my feedback to the customs authorities (I picked the feedback forms near one of the counters where they calculated the customs handling fees) and appreciated the clean and professional behavior of all the above mentioned names. I also requested them to look into exorbitant local charges of the truck union. I even felt like going back somehow to Mr. Gautam Wahi and see if he could crackdown on unfair practices of that truck union, but memory of those curtains and the pan-spit-stained walls make me hesitate. If the Asst. Commissioner of Customs couldn’t get those simple things in order through the bureaucracy, what was he going to do with the union goons. After all, he must already be aware of their existence and misdeeds of that Union.

Part 10 Part 12

 

 

Customs Clearance in Mumbai, India (Part 10)

Pleasant Interaction

Just as we were passing the cabin of Asst. Commissioner Mr. Gautam Wahi, the Police Constable sitting outside his cabin, asked me to go meet Mr. Wahi. I was again surprised at this last minute hiccup and bore the expression of “now what?” as I entered his room, expecting to see a middle aged Customs official who don’t look anything like us common people. I was surprised to see a very well groomed guy in his early forties, clean shaven, formal clothes and pleasant personality. He looked just like one of the educated white collar guys from the Private Sector with a very agreeable and professional personality. While he must be the big boss of that building, it was painful to see him in a office that had shabby curtains all around to give him some privacy. I guess it must be his way of observing his staff without being noticed himself from behind the curtains. The office definitely seemed a let down for a guy like him and yet it evoked admiration at his courage to take part in the Government Administration instead of going to the private sector like I did.

He asked me what took me to USA and I explained that although originally a Chartered Accountant, I switched to the IT industry and managed software projects in USA. He then asked me what brought me back. I explained that my and my wife’s parents were aging and that they were at that age where the health problems are perpetually coming up. I told him that we were in India in February for my mother’s knee replacement surgery and that having helped her with the post-operation therapy and recovery, I had realized that I had to face it and take a decision. So, we decided to relocate back to be closer to our aging parents after winding up our base in USA. He inquired about the expenses for my Mother’s operation (I guess because may be his parents may be expecting a similar surgery) and then wished me all the best for my endeavors in India.

Part 9 Part 11

 

 

Customs Clearance in Mumbai, India (Part 9)

Local Transportation and the Union Goons

Sensing that the goods would be cleared soon, I then called Rupesh Desai and he asked me which dhaka / godown I was waiting at. I told him the name of the building was Unaccompanied Baggage and he immediately explained that Cargo was a different section of the ACC and that his tempo was not allowed in the Baggage section. Needless to say, I was a bit perplexed with this latest twist. He explained that the Baggage section had a union of truck owners who violently beat the Cargo truck owners if they came to the Baggage section. So, he advised me to go find one of those Baggage section Truck Owners and discuss the new rate with them.

I found them sitting outside and they definitely had the arrogant tone of the Union guys. They said that there is no other way to take the boxes out of ACC and asked for Rs.1,200 for the delivery charges (as against Rs.450 that Rupesh was charging). I bargained and brought them down to Rs.1,000 but they insisted on giving me a medium sized tempo as against a small tempo that I wanted. They explained that there was a queue system in their union and the guy whose turn came up had only a medium tempo.

I went in and checked with Mr. Sanjay and he explained that if I had brought my own SUV then it would have been fine but otherwise there was no other way then to comply with the Union’s demand for an exorbitant rate. Seeing no other way out and not wanting to indulge in any sort of violence, I gave in and decided to go with that Rs.1,000 tempo. I then went back to those counters across a couple of halls in between and they issued me the Vehicle Gate Pass for the vehicle to take the boxes out after verifying that I had paid the customs duty of Rs. 700. The Vehicle Gate Pass then allowed the loader to release my boxes.

While the customs loader was wheeling my boxes to the building gate, I went in and thanked Mr. Dalvi, Mrs. Shetty and Mr. Sanjay for clearing it all the “correct way”. Observing my sigh of relief, a Clearing Agent near by, commented “mano duniya jeet li ho” (“as if you won the whole world”). I neither had the wit for a repartee nor the energy and time for it. But later when I did think about that comment, I felt I didn’t know where to begin to explain to that CHA that I guess I didn’t win the world, but this was very important for me. Coming back to my homeland after these many years, I was determined not to be victimized at the hands of corruption at my very first symbolic interaction with the Government.

Part 8 Part 10

 

 

Customs Clearance in Mumbai, India (Part 8)

Inspection of the boxes

I then took the printout and rest of the papers back to Mr. Sanjay. He then had those items verified by Mrs. Shetty and asked me to go to another counter through a couple of corridors to determine the customs handling fees. They gave me an invoice of Rs. 955 (I wonder if they calculated it at Rs.4.90 per kg, they did not provide any working of how they arrived at that figure) that I then took to another counter where State Bank of India (SBI) accepted cash payments officially and gave me a receipt. Sanjay then told me to ask the Unaccompanied Baggage section security gatekeeper to bring out  my boxes from the warehouse on showing that receipt as a proof. The fees I just paid were for the handlers to bring the boxes, open them for inspection, seal them at the end and deliver them at the building gate at the end. I doubt if the handlers realized that a hefty fee of Rs.955 was paid for their service. Not that I don’t appreciate their poor official income, but I think they had become used to expecting visitors to pay them separately over and above their salary.

They brought my boxes and I was relieved to see them intact (although sagging a bit from being stacked under other boxes). Read my shipping experience from USA to India. Mrs. Shetty then came over and inspected all the boxes. She sincerely went through in detail in several of the boxes asking what they contained. I again handed her the packing list (by box number) and she verified whether the stated items were there in each box. She asked us to show her items that she was interested in from a Customs Duty point of view. She was courteous and professional while still sincerely carrying out due diligence, verifying the items for herself. She went back and updated her system. We then waited for her to come back with Mr. Dalvi who verified that Mrs. Shetty had actually inspected the goods. They both discussed my case and explained to me that under NTR, computer accessories were dutiable. I explained to them that the declared value of Rs. 5,000 would be the original cost but that many of these items had depreciated and further many of the models were even outdated. To add to that most of the items were bought by me for discounted prices originally. They then deemed Rs. 2,000 as the reasonable dutiable value and told me to pay Rs. 700 as the customs duty. This had to be paid to the SBI counter in cash and I was issued a receipt for the same. I didn’t mind paying the duty officially and was happy not to have bribed anyone till this point.

I then submitted the receipt again to Mr. Sanjay who told me to take the papers to the Octroi desk besides the SBI counter and get their stamp. The Octroi officials also commented on the high valued declared for the clothes but grudgingly agreed that they were all used personal clothes and gave a clearance stamp.

Part 7 Part 9

 

 

Customs Clearance in Mumbai, India (Part 7)

The Process

While waiting for Mr. Dalvi to arrive from a near-by desk, I observed the overall air-conditioned room (about 450 to 500 sq. ft.) where there were several desks for various people including Mr. Sanjay, Mr. Dalvi, Mrs. Shetty and a few other officers together with an empty desk for the visitors to sit and fill the forms. There were red stains on the wall from someone having spit tobacco or paan (in India, many people eat beetle leaves filled with tobacco and several other things whose English names I don’t know). There were a maze of pipes with all the different cables / wires going around the room. It was better than some of the other Government offices I have seen but definitely not an office where any decent graduate from the known Mumbai colleges would agree to work. Sadly, it was a completely different world that people of my generation and later would like to avoid.

Mr. Dalvi arrived and reviewed my forms. He appeared to be a well educated gentleman and not the stereo-type government official. He asked me what the problem was and I explained that I had relocated from USA to Mumbai and wanted to clear my boxes without any corruption. I showed him the ToR Rules print out and complemented the Customs Department for the informative website. I explained how I had not brought any electronics items, not even a DVD Player so as to be able to do the Customs Clearance in the correct way. He asked me, with a disbelieving look, if my wife was allowing me to do so. I replied that she had to put up with me since she married me and that my parents had also called up twice that morning asking if all was okay and urging me to hire a Clearing Agent. I guess I was too focused on the task on hand and assumed that he was asking if my wife was allowing me to take the tedious legal path instead of the corrupt easy path. But later on second thoughts, I wondered if what he meant was whether my wife allowed me to “not bring any electronics” while relocating from USA to Mumbai. I guess hears what one wants to hear and some amount of martyr like mentality was inevitable in that state of mind that day.

Mr. Davli looked at my papers together with my original passport and agreed with Mr. Sanjay Keer’s observation that this could be treated as NTR. He explained that even if some minor duty comes up on inspection, I can pay that off into the Government Bank Account. I immediately agreed that rather than paying an agent, I would prefer to pay the duty, if correctly calculated.

Mr. Sanjay had taken over my case and was truly guiding me at each step. He then asked me to meet Mrs. H. M. Shetty (PRO Customs) and I repeated my case. She reviewed the forms and made a few minor corrections in the Airway Bill dates, etc. It seems that the Packing List I had given to the US Shipping Company was not legally required by Customs during their clearance process. But I just handed the list to Mrs. Shetty and told her frankly that I had not brought any big ticket items and that she could review the list herself. She mentioned that I may have to pay on the computer accessories and I explained that most of them were minor items and the cable modem and router were free-after-rebate-items received in 2004 when I took a cable internet connection in USA. I explained that being an Indian, I would wait for the best deals and only then bought some of these items at a very discounted rate. She told me that since I had declared Rs.5,000 that may be the dutiable amount. I explained that I asked Mr. Sanjay as well that this would be value if I were to replace these items today but not their fair depreciated value. She seemed to have postponed that discussion to a later step.

Mr. Sanjay then asked me to go to the first floor of an adjoining building to the CMC data entry center for Unaccompanied Baggage. Since it was their lunch time we had to wait till 2pm. My wife and I ate some nuts and fruits to keep up our energy. CMC is a Government Owned computer company and I guess the Customs process created jobs for them in this way. The data entry lady typed everything from my declaration form into her computer and showed me a draft print. She then took the final print with some corrections. She charged Rs. 75 for it and gave me a receipt.

Part 6 Part 8

 

 

Customs Clearance in Mumbai, India (Part 6)

No “Chai Paani”

On entering the office, I talked to the office usher or an office assistant or a peon (I wasn’t sure of his designation but he acted as the reception desk) explaining that we had recently relocated from USA to Mumbai and that we were here to collect the 10 boxes that we had sent by Air Cargo. I also told him in the same breath that I had not hired any Clearing Agent and that I had taken these prints of ToR rules from the Customs website and that I wanted to clear the goods myself without any “Chai Paani”, since I had not even brought a DVD player, forget any other electronics items.

He smiled benevolently and told me that he understood what I wanted to do and that he would help me with all the steps. I asked him name since he was not wearing a lapel pin nor did his desk have a name plate. He told me that he was Mr. Sanjay Keer and gave me a form for the ToR details. I read the instructions at the back of the form and filled in the simpler details (I wish I had taken an extra-copy of that form later in the day so that I could have shared it here on Internet but alas I conveniently forgot to ask for it later that day). I then asked him about how much amount should I write against the items contained in the boxes since all of them were used items and many of them were from India originally or were bought several years ago. I told him that I feared that if I wrote an amount for those items then they should not become the amount on which duty will be levied. Depreciation, Age, Purchase price after discounts/rebates, etc. should be taken into account even if they decided to charge duty on them. He advised that you write whatever was the value of the items if I were to buy them now.

 I tentatively wrote values for several items and asked him for a supplemental sheet as the original form allowed space for only six items. I clubbed the items broadly into Used Personal Clothes (Rs.60,000), Used Personal Music & Movie Collection (Rs.15,000), Used Personal Books & Photos (Rs.3,000), Used Wires and Computer Accessories (Rs. 5,000), Files & Important Papers (Rs.0), Used Personal Purses, belts & shoes (Rs. 3,000) and Used Personal Toys (Rs.200) totaling to Rs. 83,200.

 I must mention that while filling up the above form on a side table in that office within the Unaccompanied Baggage Building, I was further approached by a couple of Clearing Agents (they prefer to call themselves CHA) one of whom offered to clear all boxes for a service charge of Rs.900 only. Another CHA said that he heard me saying that I wanted to clear the boxes myself and said sure do it and I will help you in my way. He took the form from my hand before I could say anything and on reviewing it told me to explicitly write the words “used” and “personal” against each item. He also chided me on declaring Rs. 60,000 for the clothes. His advice about the words “used” and “personal” made sense and I made those corrections. While I wanted to clear the goods the correct way, I didn’t want to unnecessarily pay duty where it wasn’t fair. The CHAs did not disturb me after that. I did see Nazareth pass by a couple of times but he refused to recognize me or stop by. I guess running from one counter to the other day-in-day-out would wear anybody out.

Mr. Sanjay Keer reviewed the form along with my original passport, commented about needlessly declaring a high value for the clothes and on reading computer accessories asked me if myboxes had a computer as well. I clarified to him that I had already brought my personal notebook computer with me when I arrived by air and the boxes that had now arrived in cargo just had cables and accessories like microphone, webcam, etc. He then observed that I had no items that I will be claiming under the reduced customs duty rates under ToR. In that case, I don’t even need a ToR and that I could use Non-ToR. He asked me to change the entry in the form from TR to NTR as that will help wasting a ToR stamp on the passport when I was not clearing any such item. I saw sense in his advice and made the change. He also pointed out that he would need an additional copy of the House Airway Bill and DO and for that I would have to go outside the ACC to get a photocopy. He was nice enough to show some leniency and allowed the process to go on as long as I promised to give him that photocopy later in the day. He then asked me to meet Mr. U. V. Dalvi (Customs Superitendent I/C U.B.C. A.C.C) who was sitting across him.

Part 5 Part 7

 

 

Customs Clearance in Mumbai, India (Part 5)

Entry in to the Air Cargo Customs Complex

The Clearing Agent for whom that tout worked appeared out of nowhere and started parroting the same marketing lines that his tout had already recited. I politely requested him to not waste his time as I planned to clear my goods myself. He finally took the cue and left us alone as we entered the ACC gates. I entered from the men’s gate with my gate pass and then passed that gate pass to my wife (per instructions of the security guy at the gate). My wife then used that gate pass to enter from the Women’s security gate.

We asked someone about where to receive our boxes and they pointed us to a building towards the right hand side once we walked through the ACC gates. We followed the pedestrian pathway (as much as we could through puddles and wherever there were dry patches) to arrive at the “Unaccompanied Baggage” building. That’s what it said in big letters. We then entered it and asked an uninterested police havaldar, who obviously didn’t like being disturbed, and he just directed us to an enclosed air conditioned office section behind him. I kept the Customs ToR rules printout from the Customs Website ready together with the Delivery Order papers prominently visible in my hand. I was determined not to wear the fatalistic expression of a martyr or victim and I also checked myself from wearing an arrogant and combative expression. I didn’t want to show any sign of weakness by begging for my rights and yet I wanted to be pleasant enough for the interaction with the officials.

Part 4 Part 6

 

 

Customs Clearance in Mumbai, India (Part 4)

Outside the Air Cargo Customs Complex

I knew that Transfer of Residence is claimed per family and so I had taken my wife along (with her passport), not wanting to give any opportunity to the Customs Officials to then say that what if my wife had taken ToR on her passport earlier. Anyways, I must mention an interesting, though not unexpected, experience bordering on comedy. Even before we reached the Air Cargo Customs Complex (ACC Complex) in Sahar, just as our auto-rickshaw was nearing the circle outside the complex, touts / brokers of Customs Clearing Agents started running alongside our rickshaw offering to clear the goods for cheap. My wife looked bewildered and I told her not to mistake these people as fans running after her for autograph. She retorted that I should not have any high hopes either that these crowds are running after me since I had undertaken an honest path to avoid corruption.

We had to collect the Delivery Order from Oceanair Express Forwarding Agent’s office after paying them the exorbitant CAN charges. I wasn’t sure but I think CAN stood for Cargo Arrival Notice. They had called me to their office in a residential building just outside the Air Cargo Complex gates at 10am, but when I reached there Mr. Arun told me that I was an hour early. Eventually, it took them two-and-a-half hours before they gave me the paperwork. They charged me around Rs.2,750 for service charges. I didn’t call that service and definitely felt pinched by their disservice. Mr. Arun gave me elder-brotherly advice as well to hire Nazareth rather than face the frustration of dealing with Customs Officials, but I guess that made me even more determined to do the Customs Clearance myself.

While waiting for Mr. Arun to provide us “service”, we took a quick snack at a nearby restaurant. We were hungry and also knew that we may not get time for lunch once we entered ACC. So while the restaurant was not clean nor healthy at all, we still had to eat to avoid weakness in my battle ahead with the Customs Officials. I did keep my fingers crossed all the while as I ate that dreadful Idli-Sambar hoping not to catch a stomach-flu. After the snack, I walked over to a small lane on the left of the ACC gates where several transport vehicles of all sizes were parked. Auto-rickshaws, Tempos, Trucks and others. I spoke to the owner of a small tempo, as his tempo was just the right size for my 10 boxes (Rupesh Desai – 99699-59670). He asked me if my boxes were in the cargo or baggage and I told him I didn’t completely understand his question but that I had 10 boxes that I had to clear from the customs and take home (this mix-up / lack of knowledge on my part caused inconvenience to Rupesh later on). He gave me his phone number (99699-59670) and committed his tempo for my load, promising to ensure that the tempo would be available whenever I cleared the boxes in ACC. I noted his truck number, as that would be required for the Truck Gate Pass later on. He asked me to call whenever I obtained the Vehicle Gate Pass later that day. He offered to charge a very reasonable Rs.450 from ACC to Juhu Circle Bus Depot area where I live. But that did not include loading and unloading and I told him I would pay a couple of hundred rupees extra if he were to lend a hand.

On receiving the Delivery Order and supporting documents from Oceanair Express office at 12:30pm, we headed to the gates of the Air Cargo Complex (ACC) ignoring the offers of various agents to clear the goods for us, telling them gently that we plan to clear the goods ourselves. I walked to a security person at the gate and asked him where I could get the Gate Pass to enter the complex. He pointed to a small building / shed like structure to the left of the AC gates. I then spotted a sign board stating “Pass Section” to indicate that the gate passes should be collected from that building. I don’t know how “Pass Section” would indicate that one should go first to that section before entering the ACC, but may be it’s just me. A persistent tout followed us there prompting instructions from behind to go to this counter and not that. I thanked him again and requested him not to waste his time since I was clearing the boxes myself, but he insisted on being helpful. I had to present a copy of the first page of my wife’s and my passports along with the Deliver Oder and supporting documents received from the Forwarding Agent. One Gate Pass was issued for the two of us promptly without bribery. Yay! A good start to our quest ahead.

I once again took a moment, within as much privacy as the persistent pestering tout (say that fast three times) allowed, to offer one last time to my wife to go home. I told her that while I wanted to do this, she didn’t have to. The Customs Officials may make us wait in vengeance once they knew that they were not going to earn anything from me. I didn’t want her to faint because of hunger and exhaustion and make my position weaker in the battle ahead. But she said that she had nothing else to do at home and if it meant just waiting here, she didn’t mind. We agreed that she was free to leave for home when she got tired.

Part 3 Part 5

 

 

Customs Clearance in Mumbai, India (Part 3)

Preparing ahead of the ordeal

Coming back to my relocation experience, I was again determined this time as well to bring only what was permissible and not give any opportunity to the Customs Officials to think that they could exploit me. I started with researching on the Internet and found the “Transfer of Residence” (ToR) rules on the following customs website: http://mumbaicustoms3.gov.in/htmldocs/tr.htm

I took a print of the above rules to carry with me at the time of Customs clearance (with the web page banner prominently carrying the words “Commisioner of Customs”). I sold of both my cars, all furniture and major electronics items and gave away our vessels and several other things to different people in USA. We decided to bring back just our clothes, photo albums, books, music and movie collection and accessories related to my computer. We boxed them all and ended up with 10 boxes  in total (dimension = 18” x 18” x 16”). We decided to send those 10 boxes by Air Cargo since the Sea Cargo rates were working out to be the same price.

We had arranged for the boxes to arrive a few days after we reached Mumbai (making sure that the good reached here well within the stipulated limit of number of days). Please see this blog about our shipping experience from USA to Mumbai. I was keen to do the Customs Clearance on my own since I had complied with all the rules ahead of time. I also felt that having a Customs Clearing Agent as an intermediary gives the Customs Officials a chance to ask for a bribe. May be the Clearing Agent may proactively offer them a bribe thereby tempting the officials and making it difficult for them refuse. I had not yet taken a firm decision yet whether to hire an agent but my parents, my relatives and friends suggested not to get into all this mess to avoid the agony and frustration of dealing with Customs. I guess the hectic travels of the last few days before I arrived here had taken a toll and my energy level was definitely low on reaching Mumbai.

I spoke to a Clearing Agent Mr. Nazareth based on the reference received from my Forwarding Agent Mr. Arun Pednekar of Oceanair Express division of Writer’s Corporation (the Indian counterpart of my US Shipping Company). He offered to charge Rs. 2,500 as his fees and additionally I would have to pay customs charges for loading, etc. officially. I told Mr. Nazareth that I planned to try to do the Customs Clearance on my own and if I faced any problems or if the Customs Officer insisted on a Clearing Agent (read, if they broke my will), I would contact him the next day (I had three days to clear my stuff).

I wrote an email to the Customs Officials explaining my specific case and asked them for advice on how I could do my own Customs Clearance while avoiding any form of corruption. I sent the first email to customs@vsnl.com that I got from the “Contact Us” page from the website of Air Cargo Customs, Mumbai (http://www.accmumbai.gov.in/contactus/contact.htm), but it bounced back as undeliverable. I then went to on to Air Cargo Customs, Mumbai website’s “Email Us” page (http://www.accmumbai.gov.in/contactus/emailus.htm) and sent the same email to to pro@accmumbai.gov.in but again it bounced back as undeliverable. It wasn’t a pleasant start to my interaction with the Customs Department and I hope they put their correct email addresses (I have reported it in my feedback form to the Customs Authorities).

 

Part 2 Part 4

 

 

 

Customs Clearance in Mumbai, India (Part 2)

Corruption and Customs Officials

Talking of corruption and bribery, let me digress a bit to outline my previous experiences with the Customs Officials before I go on to explain my most recent experience with the above mentioned relocation. We visited India several times in the last seven years, principally because of my mother’s health issues. Also, my father never came to USA after his first trip in 2003 despite several promises. This meant that my mother wouldn’t come to USA either without my father (although she loved the parks, birds, animals and natural beauty of the various places we showed her in USA). Every prospective visit ro India aroused a bag of different feelings including the joy of meeting family and friends, dreams of eating the best food in the world and the patriotic feelings of returning to one’s own land. But inevitably it also brought the dread of facing the corrupt Customs officials. All the feelings of patriotism evoked on touching down on the Mumbai tarmac and on smelling the smoky Mumbai air (yes, you can immediately tell, since the air conditioning in airplane would be sucking the Mumbai air outside into the plane), evaporated as we would get closer to the corrupt Customs section.

The hungry corrupt eyes of the customs officials would be on the passengers as they get closer to the customs section. In five out of my six visits, we have been singled out from the Green Channel queue and told to come to the Red Channel desk. I guess it must be stamped on my innocent face that I am a soft person ready to be victimized. Knowing the corrupt ways of the Mumbai Customs Officials and not wanting to indulge in any corruption, I had decided before my very first visit to Mumbai that I would bring only those items that are within the permissible limits. I would study the latest customs laws on Internet and carry prints with me. Indeed, I never brought any dutiable items in order to avoid giving the customs officials any sort of an excuse in the first place.

On reaching the red channel desk, I would answer the Customs Officer’s questions and tell them upfront that I have brought items that are within the permissible limit and that they should immediately open my bags and verify the same. My preemptive strike was intended to steal away their threat to cause inconvenience by opening the bags. On every occasion they opened the bags and asked questions about some items. Four out of those six Customs Officers let me off grudgingly but two of them literally haggled like beggars asking if I could still give them some sort of a bribe. I would reply to them that I can not indulge in this practice of “chai paani” (the Indian word for a bribe).

Since this topic means so much to me, I have searched on the Internet of experiences of other Indians and inevitably found many sensitive souls like me who have been traumatized with their experiences in dealing with the Customs Officials. Read poor Dilip D’souza’s experience when he refused to entertain the Customs Officials overtures for a bribe. Not even Asst. Commissioners of Customs (ACTs) could help him when other corrupt officers were hell bent on making his life miserable, just because he chose to resist corruption (http://dcubed.blogspot.com/2006/10/customs-saga.html).

Some of the readers may not understand what the big deal is about putting up resistance to corruption. For that, one has to understand that complete social setup in Mumbai where ever since I have been growing up as a child, corruption was an accepted and inevitable practice in all spheres of our lives. Whether it be “chai paani” for the traffic cop or whether it was “chai paani” to get the examination questions from a peon or professor ahead of the school / college exams or in hospitals, police stations and even in morgues. Every person around you… your father, your uncles, your brothers, sisters, your friends, your peers, your professors, everybody has to pay bribe somewhere or the other. Being determined to not pay a bribe brings even more pressures and ridicule from family and friends. I have been fortunate to have not been troubled vindictively in all my trysts with the Customs officials. But the Government Officials are famous for harassing people who are unwilling to pay a bribe.

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Customs Clearance in Mumbai, India

Relocating from USA to India – what items to bring back?

My wife and I relocated from USA to “Aamchi Mumbai” after seven years (“aamchi” means “ours” in Marathi, a local language of the state of Maharashtra). When we made this decision to relocate back to India, I already started thinking about what stuff should I take back and what would be the impact from Customs point of view.

I finally decided that I would not take back any electronics items (not even a DVD player) or furniture. I considered the following points before arriving at this decision:

• We were moving in to our parents house where we already had the required furniture and electronics.
• Also, I had started researching on the Internet about experiences of other Indians who had relocated back to India. I arrived at the conclusion that electronics, especially something like a flat-screen TV, are susceptible to damage in cargo. Even the slightest scratch would render the item useless and it would be better to buy that stuff locally in Mumbai.
• Finally, I did not want to give any opportunity to the Customs people to ask me for a bribe.

Part 2