INDIA. After some four years of negotiations, India’s Central Board of Excise and Customs’ (CBEC) issued instructions on Monday effectively clearing the way for Indian travellers to be able to buy duty free in Rupees.
According to a report in The Economic Times, confirmed by The Moodie Report today through informed sources, Indian nationals will soon be able to buy both on departure and arrival to a limit of INR5,000 (US$113.46) per person per foreign visit.
Until now, all purchases at India’s duty free shops have had to be paid for in hard (western) currency.
The state-run duty free retailer India Tourism Development Corp (ITDC) has been working closely on the subject with the Reserve Bank of India for the past four years. That led to the green light from the Ministry of Finance which issued the order to Customs to implement the directive.
The onus will be on the duty free retailer to ensure that the allowance limit is not exceeded either in a single outlet or across multiple stores.
The INR5,000 limit is linked to the Foreign Exchange Management Act, which stipulates that as the amount one can take out of the country.
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