Bad news Govt to limit chinese courier item as gift to maximum 4 times a year

Read in today toi paper goverment to restrict items which passed as gift by china bought from alixpress,shein etc to free only 4 times a year Bad news for shopping cheap stuffs and passing as gift by chinese sellers to pass customs.So only 4 gifts(upto rs 5000) to a spectic address can be done without customs

Full Article:

Govt set to strike at Chinese e-tailers bypassing duty
Will Crack Down On Inflows Sent Under Guise Of Gifts
John Sarkar & Sidhartha TNN

New Delhi:

The government has decided to crack down on inflow of goods from Chinese e-tailers, who send consignments directly to consumers in India under the guise of gifts.

The government exempts ‘gifts’ of up to Rs 5,000 received from abroad. While the clause’s original purpose was to allow NRIs to send gifts of low value to families back home free of customs duty, it has been alleged

that sellers on several Chinese online retail platforms, including Club Factory, Shien and Aliexpress have been sending goods marked as gifts into India to avoid import duty.

India Post, which collects duty on imported goods, may allow only four gifts per year to a particular address according to new norms that are under discussions, top government sources told TOI. The move is expected to give a fillip to Indian sellers facing stiff competition from their counterparts on Chinese platforms.

In addition, India Post will set up 20 export hubs to give a boost to local sellers in cross border trade. “We need to help Indian sellers reach global markets and that can be done through e-commerce in a very cost effective way,” said a source. The department of industrial policy and promotion is leading the initiative. An Indian retail source said Chinese e-commerce websites have become popular in India as they are able to keep the prices very low because the goods are dispatched through China Post and more often than not marked as ‘gifts’ to evade customs duty.

The products are at least 50-60% cheaper than what’s available on Indian e-commerce sites like Myntra or Jabong. “It’s even cheaper than Sarojini Nagar market. You can get a frock for less than Rs 500,” said media executive Monami Thakur, who shops frequently from Chinese e-tailers.

The popularity of Chinese e-commerce sites has been steadily rising in India. For instance, Shein’s mobile app has crossed five million downloads in India, it delivers to 15,000 pin codes in Tier I and Tier II cities and it is handling over 10,000 orders from India daily, according to industry estimates.

Similarly, Club Factory, Aliexpress, Romwe are among some of the other top-performing Chinese e-commerce apps doing brisk business in the Middle East and India, according to analytics firm App Annie. Club Factory, more than half of whose 70 million global customers are from India, is ranked among the most popular apps on Google Playstore.

A preliminary examination showed most of these Chinese online platforms list their products in rupees, while some have even held fashion shows across the country — Club Factory had signed up Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh for an ad — and use social media such as Facebook and Instagram to target users. Several Indian fashion bloggers, too, have dedicated online videos on navigating these sites.

“They don’t pay customs duties or the goods and services tax (GST). They don’t display maximum retail price (MRP) as is mandatory according to the Packaged Commodities Rules 2017 amendment that covers foreign e-commerce sites doing transactions with Indian consumers,” said a senior executive at a large Indian e-tailer.