How is this going to affect us or has it already begun?
I was charged Rs148 for an 8$ parcel(excluding shipping), actual value declared from HK.They also valued my parcel at Rs800.
Did I pay the price because of an hyper vigilant customs?

Customs is stepping up checking of goods to a very high level.

There are rumours that a limit for personal imports will be $25 or $50 ANNUALLY, beyond which a mandatory 35-40% Duty will be applied to the goods. I also presume that the CBEC is cracking down hard on undervaluation to ensure duty is paid honestly. The $50 import limit will be extreme in any case for most personal importers. I just wish it isn't put into effect.

On googling around could not find anywhere that there is a minimum value which is non taxable by custom, i.e the Rs 2000 which has been mentioned may times on this forum. Customs is calculated on cost+shipping+insurance, so in my case I think they valued it near about at actual cost+shipping and was charged 15% customs on "PLASTICS" since package contained props.

However what about the so called budding LHS's, who don't carry out the formalities, try to evade duties and taxes and create panic posts on being charged by customs or being asked for certificates? Actions of these people affect people like us who are trying to create and maintain a hobby?

Actually,some of the replies in another topic shows the sentiment.
http://www.rcindia.org/chatter-zone/cheap-skydiving-an-adrenaline-pumping-activities/

Limit of 50$ a YEAR! First of all how are they going to track it? Some one will find a way or 2 on how to play smart, hell i have already but wont like to mention. Again this will lead to more people trying to evade tax and bribery. As it is we don't have many things related to this hobby manufactured in India with exceptions, one that comes to my mind would be Sharma Model Aero.

https://www.icegate.gov.in/Webappl/
Use CTH code as 9804


Total duty for personal import is 58.845%

Value of Rs. 2000 mentioned in the note

But would our items come under mentioned CTH, because its for drugs/medicines and others. Would our items fall into "OTHERS". Also the 35% basic duty seems like a default duty, if proper sl.no for exemption is ascertained then duty rate may change.

As you can see on the bottom of the page you can view "Important Notifications" issued by Govt. If we can find proper category of products our items fit in, we can know for sure what would be the exact rate of duty for items.
The list is exhaustive! Gonna take some time to go through all three of them.

http://cbec.gov.in/customs/cs-act/notifications/notfns-2012/cs-tarr2012/cs12-2012.pdf
http://cbec.gov.in/excise/cx-act/notfns-2012/cx-tarr2012/ce12-2012-revised.pdf
http://cbec.gov.in/customs/cs-act/notifications/notfns-2012/cs-tarr2012/cs21-2012.pdf

Also value limit of Rs 2000 is applicable only on importers covered under "CLAUSE 3(1), (I) OF FOREIGN TRADE" and I don't see us being in that list
http://www.cbec.gov.in/customs/cs-act/formatted-htmls/forgntrade-order.htm

Thats a lot to go through.

so far rc comes under toys category

IMHO
Toys category is 9503 which is commercially imported
But, for personal import
CTH code could be 9804

ALL DUTIABLE ARTICLES, INTENDED FOR PERSONAL USE, IMPORTED BY POST OR AIR, AND EXEMPTED FROM ANY PROHIBITION IN RESPECT OF THE IMPORTS THEREOF UNDER THE FOREIGN TRADE (DEVELOPMENT AND REGULATION) ACT, 1992 (22 OF 1992) BUT EXCLUDING ARTICLES FALLING UNDER

omg , is this times of indai

how come the article writers be so dumb.. are school kids writing articles for media..!!
Articles shd be written only if one has complete details. absolute immature nonsense fellows are ruling in positions. and we are actually entertaining them on blogs by taking discussions forward.

duty rate (what ever) on a category is on a price at which one purchases and not the price at which it is being sold.

say i purchase an item @ 500 per unit. and say duty if 25 % for the purchased category (assuming it is defined with customs). then duty would be 25% of 500.  if u are selling it at 2000 in local market, that shd not be issue. duty will be evaluated on purchase price. Yes, to save duty, often importing parties offer wrong declarations of purchased prices.

if customs keep shipment at hold then we get a call to justify declarations, unit -chapter d'tion .....

above times article doesnt make much difference to those who are well versed with procedures.
i have seen 'n' such articles so far...

my exp : above article is specific and not general.. try reading it  carefully.. u will smell it..

means it is to target someone ... probably targeting some group of importers by another group of investors/importers

Pooyan my intention while beginning this thread was not to discuss more about the scam , how/why did it happen or the politics going on between fellow importers/exporters. Neither am I debating how an article should be written, because I dont know zilch about article writing.

What I want is removal of ambiguity related to importing items related to our hobby. I want to know for sure how much custom duty will be charged if I get a Bixler 2 with or without elec. or APM 2.5 or a couple of props or 1 of all three items for that matter instead of relying on the mercy of the customs department/lady luck. I think the most active discussion lately has been "Will my parcel be charged customs?" and I want a definite answer for that question. I dont think Im asking too much, am I? Also Im willing to abide by all the laws and regulations.

We have topics on here where new ways of cheating customs are being openly discussed. Im sure even after duty rates are ascertained, some people would still indulge in such practices, which is a shame, other than condemning it on the forum, nothing much can be done by me.

Vineet yes the article was in TOI-Nagpur Yesterday, Page 1/9.

Rcparkjet and Moorthy the thing is taking into account all the products we use in this hobby, we cannot just put it under a single category, some products would be eligible to come under toys, while some under electronics, and then some. If it would have come under a single category then life would have been easier, but I think thats highly improbable. If we can categorize items properly it would be easier to move further.

For eg: My parcel containing a couple of props,nylon screws and nuts and more plastic items was charged 15% duty and was categorized as "Plastics".

Ohh.. my statements were misleaded seems ..

my first para was strictly wrt to newpapers articles..  i have stopped investing on newspapers these days. No clean news.. mostly full of rubbish.. just like above paper article. try weighing ..

I havent commented on member of this blog. infact i havent seen who started this post. my response was to matter.

Thanks for pointing and clearing this by replying..

regarding RC - yes i am too searching for ways in which RC items can be brought into customs definitions..
convincing customs officers is hell difficult. they start with 'wrong'. i too have lost several items in customs.