Import Intricacies

tarat · Post by **tarat** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 8:33 pm

Hiya !

The following is what I could make out after going through posts on importing airguns. Will someone validate if my understanding is correct ?!

01. Import of airguns is allowed in 0.177 caliber only.
02. Calibers greater than 0.177 may be brought as personal baggage from abroad.
03. Pellets and scopes of any caliber cannot be imported.
04. Pellets and scopes may also be brought to India as personal baggage.
05. Airport customs will inquire for your rifle club membership card before releasing it. This is not required per the law, but they may insist !
06. Postal customs (importing) require rifle club membership. This is as per law.
07. As per the law, import of 0.177 caliber airguns is free for individuals who are members of clubs affiliated with state/national level shooting associations. In reality it is only free for renowned shooters.
08. An ordinary (not renowned) person importing an airgun has to pay a duty upto 35 % of CIF. CIF is the cost of the goods plus freight charges.
09. There is a certain CIF limit, probably somewhere about 20,000 INR, upto which the duty may be lesser than 35 %
10. The documents that are needed to prepare for the 'big fight' are, a copy of the Gazette, state rifle membership and a copy of the Customs Handbook Section 93.
11. Postal customs inquire for your Import Permit to try and snare you. Import permit is not needed by law, unless the rifle is for commercial use.
12. There is a power limit as imposed by the Deal Wood Test. This is not a numerical but an emperical measure. However it is not exercised often.

And this is the reason for the research .........

I got a quote from Tim at Mac1 for a R9 at a shade over 18000 INR. That includes the cost of the gun (with his trigger tune), a maintainance kit plus shipping charges. I am now trying to estimate the final cost (with duty).

Tried this duty calculator, but I am not sure if the numbers are right.

http://www.infodriveindia.com/Indian-Cu ... PRING.aspx

It indicates a duty of about 5000 INR. That brings the total cost to 23000 INR.

Now about the documents. I need membership with the Karnataka State Rifle Association, I suppose. Since there are so many of you here in Bangalore who have imported airguns, would someone be kind enough to guide me through the process (what documents do they ask for) ? I suppose you guys are members as well ?!

Thanks a lot in advance.

Regards
RT

andy_65_in · Post by **andy_65_in** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 8:38 pm

Good post tarat awaiting expert coments.incidentaly mac 1 airguns is ready to export to india-am i right?andy

biking3819 · Post by **biking3819** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 9:42 pm

this is some excellent collection scattered posts in one place,for guys who always look for shortcuts to know everything with nothing more than to get it all in one post...,if only this cud be made a sticky.
regards sanjiv

hellfire_m16 · Post by **hellfire_m16** » Sun Jan 06, 2008 5:39 am

Tarat,
A good compilation.
Best
-Vinayaka

tarat · Post by **tarat** » Sun Jan 06, 2008 12:32 pm

Andy,

I let Tim know that I reside at Bangalore, India. He did not mention any problem with my country of residence in his reply. Also, browsing through the posts here, it looks like guys have got stuff from him. So to answer your Q, yes, it seems he can send goods to India.

Biking & Hellfire,

Thanks. These things are very tricky. Without a fair idea of current practices, it's only too easy to be duped. Am looking into the issue of club membership now.

Regards
RT

YouTube · Post by **mundaire** » Sun Jan 06, 2008 1:32 pm

tarat";p="34554 wrote: Hiya !

The following is what I could make out after going through posts on importing airguns. Will someone validate if my understanding is correct ?!

01. Import of airguns is allowed in 0.177 caliber only.
02. Calibers greater than 0.177 may be brought as personal baggage from abroad.
03. Pellets and scopes of any caliber cannot be imported.
04. Pellets and scopes may also be brought to India as personal baggage.
05. Airport customs will inquire for your rifle club membership card before releasing it. This is not required per the law, but they may insist !
06. Postal customs (importing) require rifle club membership. This is as per law.
07. As per the law, import of 0.177 caliber airguns is free for individuals who are members of clubs affiliated with state/national level shooting associations. In reality it is only free for renowned shooters.
08. An ordinary (not renowned) person importing an airgun has to pay a duty upto 35 % of CIF. CIF is the cost of the goods plus freight charges.
09. There is a certain CIF limit, probably somewhere about 20,000 INR, upto which the duty may be lesser than 35 %
10. The documents that are needed to prepare for the 'big fight' are, a copy of the Gazette, state rifle membership and a copy of the Customs Handbook Section 93.
11. Postal customs inquire for your Import Permit to try and snare you. Import permit is not needed by law, unless the rifle is for commercial use.
12. There is a power limit as imposed by the Deal Wood Test. This is not a numerical but an emperical measure. However it is not exercised often.

And this is the reason for the research .........

I got a quote from Tim at Mac1 for a R9 at a shade over 18000 INR. That includes the cost of the gun (with his trigger tune), a maintainance kit plus shipping charges. I am now trying to estimate the final cost (with duty).

Tried this duty calculator, but I am not sure if the numbers are right.

http://www.infodriveindia.com/Indian-Cu ... PRING.aspx

It indicates a duty of about 5000 INR. That brings the total cost to 23000 INR.

Now about the documents. I need membership with the Karnataka State Rifle Association, I suppose. Since there are so many of you here in Bangalore who have imported airguns, would someone be kind enough to guide me through the process (what documents do they ask for) ? I suppose you guys are members as well ?!

Thanks a lot in advance.

Regards
RT

1. Wrong! - The restriction on calibre is ONLY applicable if you are importing via post/ courier. If you are bringing back an air-rifle as baggage when returning from overseas, the calibre restriction DOES NOT apply and it is completely legit to bring back a .22 cal air-rifle, if you so desire.

2. Correct

3. Scopes DO NOT have a calibre! Pellets and scopes CAN NOT be imported via post/ courier, but may be carried back as personal baggage while returning from overseas. Subject to the restriction that the scope IS NOT presented ALONGWITH OR MOUNTED ON a gun. There is an official limit of a max 2000 pellets that can be brought in per returning passenger.

4. Correct

5. Yes, it is entirely up to the discretion of the customs officer inspecting your baggage.

6. Correct

7. This clause simply means that members MAY import airguns for their personal use. It DOES NOT mean that the import is duty free! Duty exemption is available only to shooters who have achieved renowned shooter status.

8. CIF is Cost+Insurance+Freight, import duty is levied on this total and not simply on the cost of goods.

9. First I've heard of this. There has been a one off case (when imports had just begun) wherein duty was not charged, whether this was due to mere oversight on the part of the customs OR some confusion due to the newness of the notification, I am not sure. But there is no mention of goods below a certain value being duty free.

10. Membership of ANY rifle club/ shooting association WHICH IS affiliated to the NRAI (including of course the NRAI itself), whether it is a city/ district/ school/ college/ state club/ association is ALLOWED.

11. Correct. Also import of airguns on a commercial basis is NOT allowed. Import of airguns by shooters (subject to conditions mentioned above) has been allowed for their personal use ONLY, otherwise airguns continue to remain on the restricted list of imports.

12. Correct

Tim at Mac1 also seems to have the cheapest shipping & handling rates to India. From member experiences it would seem that www.pyramydair.com levies a US$ 50 charge on every purchase made using an international credit card PLUS they charge an obscene amount for shipping to India.

Cheers!
Abhijeet

shahid · Post by **shahid** » Sun Jan 06, 2008 2:40 pm

What is the duty structure ? Is it 35 % of total value ?

I was asked to pay 100 % of purchase price.

tarat · Post by **tarat** » Sun Jan 06, 2008 3:23 pm

Thanks Mundaire !

First of all, a clairification from my end is in order regarding my post above.

Please note : While this may or may not be technically correct, I used the word 'import' to specifically mean getting in goods via post/courier. Pl. keep this in mind else you may interpret it differently from what I meant.

For pt. 03, pl. read as 'scopes and pellets of any caliber.....'. Its a typo.

All Forumites,

Does anyone have any experience with the 'civilian arms training' with the KSRA ? I believe thats one of the requirements to become a member. A fellow forumite Pran seems to have completed this training. It also seems that the KSRA really drag their feet in issuing memberships. I dont know how long the entire process could take. All this just to import an airgun ........

Regards
RT

andy_65_in · Post by **andy_65_in** » Sun Jan 06, 2008 5:53 pm

Shahids comment regarding 100 % duty as against 35 % is ALARMING because then the airgun costs soars to almost as high as whats being sold here-generally speaking,unless i am wrong.but this is some unpleasant news.andy

YouTube · Post by **mundaire** » Sun Jan 06, 2008 9:26 pm

andy_65_in";p="34617 wrote:Shahids comment regarding 100 % duty as against 35 % is ALARMING because then the airgun costs soars to almost as high as whats being sold here-generally speaking,unless i am wrong.but this is some unpleasant news.andy

The applicable duty is approximately 35% - INCLUDING the various surcharges etc. If the customs official charged 100% he was/ is plain simple in the WRONG...

Cheers!
Abhijeet

TenX · Post by **TenX** » Sun Jan 06, 2008 10:03 pm

tarat";p="34612 wrote:Does anyone have any experience with the 'civilian arms training' with the KSRA ? I believe thats one of the requirements to become a member. A fellow forumite Pran seems to have completed this training. It also seems that the KSRA really drag their feet in issuing memberships.

Hi.
Do visit www.ksra.in , a website I made last year for KSRA. It has all the details of CRT and membership requirements.
I agree that getting a membership is a pretty long process, but in actuality, the people who are working for this issual, is actually doing a honorary job, and will always feel a little 'burdened' by extra work for KSRA. Most importantly, the state is itself to still realize what needs to be done to promote shooting. Mostly, all the way from the top (from Minister et al), there is a tremendous resistance to promote shooting in the state, owing to what others like to term as 'complicacies' of ammunition procurement and 'risks'. This has always been a deterrent to even keep the ranges open on weekdays for keen shooters to practice, lest attract better and a keen crowd.
I am sorry, but as of now, the few weeks of CRT is pretty compulsory and is the only shortcut

However, it would be wise to get in touch with any of the nine committee members (listed in the website mentioned above), and go thru them. This will surely avoid some red tape at least.
All the best and see you in the range soon.

tarat · Post by **tarat** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 3:28 pm

Hiya TenX,

If the civilian training is a one/two day affair I can take leave from office. However if they intend to make me run around for weeks on end, then its out of the question. I cannot put my job on the line for this. Thats why I asked for members to come forward with their experiences if any.

If the KSRA is such a complicated affair, the other option left is the NRAI. I was going through their site. It looks like the admission fee is 7500 INR plus 500 INR annual membership plus 75 INR membership card cost. Thats 8075 INR.

Add that to the cost of the gun and you have 23000 + 8000 odd and you end up with 31000 INR. And thats assuming I can get two NRAI members to vouch for me. Now I can see why people buy directly from dealers.

Pretty sad state of affairs, this.

Regards
RT

TenX · Post by **TenX** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 3:38 pm

Hi.
The CRT can be had on few (mostly 5) consecutive sundays and be done with.
Also, (and However) KSRA is not open on weekdays either. So, there should not be any problem of work-leave. (Although I suggest you do use this alibi and get your family to a PVR movie:))

YouTube · Post by **mundaire** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 3:49 pm

Tarat,

The government DID NOT mean for people to sign up as members SIMPLY to import airguns! The idea was to make things easier for those who were already in some way connected to shooting sports, through memberships to local associations - a prerequisite to participating in recognised shooting events.

The decision makers have no sympathy for casual plinkers/ enthusiasts who are not interested in ISSF style shooting sports... a real pity, but that's the way it currently is...

Cheers!
Abhijeet

GasramGandu · Post by **GasramGandu** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 6:43 pm

Tarat, kudos to you on doing all your research before posting about import. I'm very impressed

Tim at Mac1 is a great guy to deal with and I can vouch for his service. The packaging could be better given the rough handling which will surely occur when importing through post. If you are ordering from him, ask for each item to be bubble wrapped separately.

He will probably not give you a shipping cost quote before you place the order but rest assured he will charge you exactly what USPS charges for the package and nothing extra.

He has a 3% surcharge for credit card orders.

The Beeman R9 aka HW95 is an excellent choice and is a good all rounder. It is a light but powerful sporter.

Given your current circumstances ie. lack of club membership, you are better off flying to Dubai and picking up one.

Cheers
GG

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Import Intricacies

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