International passengers landing in India after 00:01 hrs on 2 February are already experiencing a different customs regime. Notified under the Customs Act and published in the Gazette late on 1 February, the Baggage Rules 2026 replace a patchwork of circulars that had built up over the past decade.
The headline change is the jump in the general duty-free allowance—from ₹50,000 to ₹75,000—for Indian residents, Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) and other non-tourist visa holders arriving by air or sea. Foreign tourists now enjoy a higher exemption of ₹25,000, while the allowance for airline crew rises modestly to ₹2,500.
Jewellery limits have been rationalised and converted to weight rather than value: women resident abroad for a year or more may now bring in 40 grams of gold duty-free; all other passengers are capped at 20 grams. Customs inspectors have long complained that fluctuating gold prices made enforcement difficult; the new rule provides a clearer threshold.
![India implements Baggage Rules 2026, raising duty-free allowance to ₹75,000 and digitising customs forms]()
Before even boarding your flight, make sure your documentation is equally up to date. VisaHQ (https://www.visahq.com/india/) offers a quick online pathway to secure the correct Indian visa, keeps travellers informed about any last-minute entry updates and validity rules, and streamlines the paperwork so that you can walk into the new customs regime with confidence.
The regulations also codify a simplified ‘Transfer of Residence’ scheme. Returning Indians will now be entitled to duty-free personal and household effects worth up to ₹7.5 lakh if they have lived abroad for more than two years, easing the cost of repatriation for multinational assignees.
Perhaps the most transformative element is procedural: incoming travellers must complete a single digital customs declaration—integrated into India’s ‘Air Suvidha’ platform—rather than paper forms. Officials say this will cut average clearance times at major airports by 30 percent, an important improvement as India races towards an annual passenger volume of 350 million by 2028.
The headline change is the jump in the general duty-free allowance—from ₹50,000 to ₹75,000—for Indian residents, Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) and other non-tourist visa holders arriving by air or sea. Foreign tourists now enjoy a higher exemption of ₹25,000, while the allowance for airline crew rises modestly to ₹2,500.
Jewellery limits have been rationalised and converted to weight rather than value: women resident abroad for a year or more may now bring in 40 grams of gold duty-free; all other passengers are capped at 20 grams. Customs inspectors have long complained that fluctuating gold prices made enforcement difficult; the new rule provides a clearer threshold.
Before even boarding your flight, make sure your documentation is equally up to date. VisaHQ (https://www.visahq.com/india/) offers a quick online pathway to secure the correct Indian visa, keeps travellers informed about any last-minute entry updates and validity rules, and streamlines the paperwork so that you can walk into the new customs regime with confidence.
The regulations also codify a simplified ‘Transfer of Residence’ scheme. Returning Indians will now be entitled to duty-free personal and household effects worth up to ₹7.5 lakh if they have lived abroad for more than two years, easing the cost of repatriation for multinational assignees.
Perhaps the most transformative element is procedural: incoming travellers must complete a single digital customs declaration—integrated into India’s ‘Air Suvidha’ platform—rather than paper forms. Officials say this will cut average clearance times at major airports by 30 percent, an important improvement as India races towards an annual passenger volume of 350 million by 2028.
