I have been charged from 22% to 40% for personal imports. Basic Customs Duty is  5% or 10% depending on category of products imported. For personal imports, there are some extra duties. I wrote a detailed break up of various duties for imports in this forum some time ago. You can find the details there.

http://www.rcindia.org/rc-outlets-and-resellers/anything-and-everything-hobby-king/msg157610/#msg157610

Oh my God...then it would cost me around 6500/- as duty....is there a way i can avoid it...As per Custom India..the rate for musical box is 29% and it comes under 1908 tariff

Cant help in this case bro. Its up to customs people now, how much they are going to charge you.

Hi members,

First let me start by saying that you guys are doing a great job by helping and giving information to people who need it. I came across this forum while searching for answers to my international orders and I must say, it has a great deal of information which is non-existent in the Government websites.

Now to my query-

I want to order a pair of headphones( Rs. 4800) and an E-book (Rs. 7000), separately ofcourse from Aliexpress. If I ask the seller to mark it as 'gift' and not give and invoice in the parcel, will the customs still hold up the parcel?

I read somewhere that the import duty on E-books has been revised and reduced considerably. Is this true?

Thanks in advance...

Books are EXEMPTED from Import Duty. Select the Shipping Option as REGISTERED AIRMAIL (China Post / Hong Kong Post / Singapore Post etc etc). You wont have any problems. That is no duty, no invoices to submit. Happy shopping...

Hi NairitB,

Thanks for the quick reply. Its an E-book, so it will be classified under electronics?

And will there be custom duty if I get them marked as gifts?

Thanks.

E book should be electronics book, soft copy only, why to ship it by courier?

@renownedalmond, Whatever you want to do, you can do but as for as the customs is concerned they can detain any package if they want to examine. This is the fact. You can mention it as a gift, $12, $18, $25, $30 etc.... but no use of it. If they want to check they can check any package. All depends on your luck. 

Agree with raja 

Sorry..E-Book reader i mean....

@mangesh, Bro, what happens to your package ? Any new update?

No bro, Diwali vacation 

Here, in addition to Diwali heavy rain and Chennai is almost floating in water. I pray to god that my package may be safe from any damage. I am very concerned.

oh okay. E book reader. I was confused why would any1 want to buy e book from China Anyway, then it'll be classified under Electronics. You will be charged duty if it is by courier / EMS / Air parcel. And then, on the package reaching India, you'll be asked for invoice / proof of purchase and other docs.

Better go for REGISTERED AIRMAIL. Its much much cheaper than the other options. In any case, its your choice what shipping mode you opt for.

@nairtb, Is there any limitation for a person to get packages through Registered Airmail in a month ?

Alright. I will try my luck with registered post and ask them to put it as GIFT. Lets see if the customs get fooled by it.

I do not know of any such limitation. Our postman says there is a person in our locality who receives some 15-20 foreign parcels on some days. May b 50 a month

@renownedalmond  Customs are rarely fooled. In case of Airmail packages, they choose to overlook the tax due as people do not use this mode for importing high value goods.

Hello everyone !!
  I ordered a few electronic circuits and lithium ion battery (two separate parcel ) from aliexpress on october 4th. The parcels reached india and i dont know how track it further. Please help me. TRACKING ID : 11558624357 , UF401401213SE . Thank u !!

They seem to be UNREGISTERED packages. You wont be able to track it in India. It'll take time to reach you. If you do not receive the packages, you'll get full refund from aliexpress. Dont worry

Guys,  order status changed on 12 nov, diwali good news for me,
Order customs cleared and lodged with local delivery agent,  sent to domestic location.

@mangesh Very good. Enjoy yourself. pls update if any duty imposed on your package.

@nairitb Thank u sir. If it is unregistered then who will bring it to my home? My local post man?

Registered, UNregistered, Air Parcel and EMS are all delivered by your local postman. Unregistered packages do not have tracking number. The others have tracking number. Unregistered packages are like the letters we drop at the post box and hope that they are delivered to the addressee

And please dont add SIR to my name. I am not yet worthy of that. I am in my 20s a simple bro or just my name is good for me.

@ilyas ali  I think this thread is for customs / parcel discussions only. Your question is of a technical nature. Please post in relevant section.

@nairitb bro, pls read this link http://www.rcindia.org/rc-general-topics/imported-items-in-customs-for-clearance/ by DJ Nshyap. He said the packages are thrown for 2 feet distance. My item is tablet pc i.e., e-book reader type. If anything like this happened to my registered airmail pack, then my item will be broken down to thousands of pieces. I am so worried. Do you have any experience of receiving broken items? How to deal with that kind of situation if I received broken item?