The Indian government is considering a clampdown on shipments from Chinese e-commerce platforms allegedly sent to India as ‘gifts’. This will initiate sample checking of consignments and limiting the value of imported ‘gifts’ to Rs.5,000 per Aadhaar number.
The move will help the government keep a check and tighten the noose on online purchases of goods through foreign e-commerce platforms and applications, especially China.
This comes after several complaints about sellers on Chinese online platforms, including Shein, Club Factory and AliExpress, sending goods as ‘gifts’ to customers in India to avoid duties.
This brings down the prices of their goods and gives them an unfair advantage over sellers on domestic ecommerce marketplaces. The government is expected to take up the issue in the draft e-commerce policy that is set to be unveiled soon.
All India Online Vendors Association (AIOVA), an independent group of domestic sellers, said that the problem should be solved holistically by “compulsory registration of any foreign e-tailer who wants to sell goods in India and the duty should be imposed right at the point when a customer is paying for goods”.
Recently, many foreign online retailers have started exploiting the loopholes in the existing laws and regulations that exempt NRIs from paying duties on gifts worth as high as Rs.5,000 that they sent to relatives. “The courier costs, too, need to be included within this amount. The courier costs for a package of around 1kg would be nearly Rs.1,200. We have noticed consignments marked as gifts being over 15kg, bearing the declared value of Rs.3,000,” an official said.
A complete ban on such imports had also been considered but the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) had suggested capping these to four per person per year.
