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‘Andher Nagari Chowpat Raja
Takke ser bhaji, Takke ser khaaja’
 I remember the folklore during my childhood. I don’t remember the story but it was about a cranky king of a dark, doomed kingdom, who decided to fix the same price for every commodity, be it vegetable or cashew nuts, thus destroying the economic health of the kingdom... Enter the modern day Andher Nagari- the Duty Free Shops (vis-a-viz) and the duty free allowances allowed on wine and spirits.
The arrival lounge of the Delhi Duty Free (DDF) shop has a single malt whisky that sells for as high as $540 (you get 10% discount) and a wine label that sells for as low as $10. You are thus allowed to carry duty-free two 1-liter bottles of whiskey, valued at around $1000 net (Rs. 65,000). If you drink wine and your palate adores Jacobs Creek, you may pick up the two bottles at $20. These 2 bottles of 750 mL each, (pragmatically speaking, you may pick up 4 bottles too) are in addition to the current duty free allowance of Rs. 35,000.
Adventurous buying
If you are slightly more adventurous or want to keep a piece of collectible duty-free ‘art’ in the house as an asset, you may pick up a rare cask single malt costing around $30,000 each (there are 2 such labels in fact) costing a cool Rs 39 lacs- Rs. 3.9 million! You may bring it back and if the customs people stop you, simply tell them you are carrying 2 bottles of whiskey, according to law.
If you are somewhere between a wine and a whiskey drinker- say a Cognac connoisseur, you could pick up a bottle of Louis XIII Grand champagne Cognac for a little over $3,000 (Rs. 195,000) instead of the Retail Price of about Rs. 325,000 in Delhi.
I was informed by the salesman on both the Arrival and Departure shops that people buy such expensive liquor and Cognac on the way out and bring the bottles back without any problem. They both assured me this practice was ‘safe’. No comments were offered about how one could carry $60,000 illegally (unless he took permission from the RBI under the transfer of funds scheme.) Although the customs form on arrival (recently discontinued) used to mention 2 litres of alcohol as free in addition to the allowance, it never mentioned the value limit, thus justifying the passenger’s assumption that as long as it was 2 litres, it was all kosher.
The anomaly has arisen out of the rare whiskies and cognac entering the world market and finding the target affluent customers throughout the world, including India. In earlier days when only one bottle was allowed, Royal Salute used to be the king, selling at around $56. This segment kept on moving to the upper end where Blue Label at around $200 ruled supreme. With rare whiskies (rare wines have yet to find a niche in India though in Hong Kong, Singapore and Dubai, they find growing number of interested buyers.
On my recent arrival from a foreign visit, I checked up with a customs Superintendent. He told me that it was implicit and in their internal records that the 2 bottles should have a maximum value of Rs. 45,000 since this was the maximum limit for duty free allowance (that confuses me a little as I thought it was 35,000). In any case, since I am not a compulsive shopper, it does not concern me directly. That would mean one could buy only a single bottle of the super-premium whisky costing $540! I was told if one bought two litres of that single malt whiskey, there would be duty payable on the additional amount.
Six-Pack Duty Free Wine Option
Should the government look at the anomaly? I don’t really care except when I bring 4-5 bottles of interesting wines costing $20-40 or as tasting samplers, I have to pay customs duty (I must admit the customs people are very nice and gentle about valuation). My interest is in wine policy. As I have been making several pleas through different platforms including delWine, If the government is serious about reducing alcohol consumption, it should give incoming passengers the option of bringing 6 bottles of wine (14% alc) in lieu of the two 1-liter bottles of liquor (40+% alc) according to the current policy and set a uniform upper value beyond the duty-free allowance.
As mentioned in a previous Article, even in the dry State of Gujarat, one can get a permit with a valid cause. Such permit holders are allowed 2 or 4 units of liquor per month. One unit reportedly translates into one 750 ml bottle of hard liquor, 3 bottles of wine or 10 bottles of beer. If one goes by that logic, we should rightly be entitled to bring 8 bottles of wine as 2 liters of hard liquor are allowed.
I hope that the Finance or the Commerce ministry sees the logic and without further ado, change the number to 8 or at least 6 bottles of wines in lieu. I would prefer the allowable bottles to be six because of the convenience of picking up a box of 6 bottles-several wines come in 6-bottles cases, especially Champagne and higher ended wines.
Incidentally, similar logic is used when allowing the foreign diplomats duty free quotas for hard liquor and wine. This decision will certainly motivate the duty free shops to keep better variety at better prices. Most travellers would prefer to pick up wines at the arrival lounge as it saves the hassle of packing in their bags. This would in turn boost wine consumption, rather than whiskey consumption. And if the government can define the top value at Rs. 45,000 for both wines and whiskey, they might even be able to collect some decent revenue additionally.
Here are the previous Articles on the subject. Please read in the order listed to get the background.
Blog: Allow 6 Bottles of DF Wine on Arrival
Blog: Allow 6 bottles of DF Wines on Arrival-Part II
Blog: Six Bottles of DutyFree Wine on Arrival- Part III
Subhash Arora |