Can free allowances
of two or more passengers be added up (pooled or combined) to bring more goods
duty free or pay lesser duty ?
No. Unfortunately you
can not club the duty free allowance if you are travelling in group.
Example : eg.
husband and wife are travelling together and each of them get Rs.25000 free
allowance.
Suppose, they buy a laptop worth Rs.40000. This laptop will have to be
declared by one of them - either the husband or wife but not both. The person
who declares the item has to pay duty on Rs.15000, which is the excess value
over his/her duty free allowance, although the husband and wife can bring a
total of Rs.50000 worth goods free of duty separately.
On the other hand, say, a TV
worth Rs.25000 is declared by the husband and a stereo also worth Rs.25000 is
declared by the wife. Then both the items can be cleared duty free as these
belong to the baggage of different persons. Had the husband declared both the
items as his baggage, he would have to pay duty on Rs.25000 - the amount by
which his duty free allowance would exceed.
So remember this always
that each passenger is considered to be travelling separately with his/her own
baggage and their duty is assessed on an individual basis, not on the basis of
a group or a family.