India

In force 2 February 2026 (Notification No. 15/2026-Customs (N.T.), Customs Baggage (Declaration and Processing) Regulations, 2026). Arriving passengers carrying dutiable or prohibited goods must file CBD-I electronically through the automated system - the ICEGATE portal (www.icegate.gov.in) or the web/mobile application 'Atithi' - before entering the Green Channel; an Assistant/Deputy Commissioner may allow another manner on arrival. Any 'Yes' to CBD-I items 16-18 (pets, jewellery beyond allowance, listed regulated goods including Indian currency over INR 25,000) directs the passenger to the Red Channel. Duty-free allowances in the CBD-I appendix (applicability description only, not a separate procedure): INR 75,000 for residents, tourists of Indian origin and foreign non-tourist-visa holders arriving other than by land; INR 25,000 for foreign tourists; NIL for land arrivals; jewellery 40g (female)/20g (others) after one year abroad; 2 litres alcohol; 100 cigarettes or 25 cigars or 125g tobacco; one new laptop for passengers aged 18+. Operational supplement (per the official CBIC Atithi 2.0 Passenger User Manual's published steps; this is the documented procedure, not a registration or submission actually completed in this research): a new user clicks 'Register' at the top of the Atithi web/app home page, clicks 'Accept' on the Terms and Conditions, selects the 'Passenger' radio button, enters registration details, clicks 'Submit', then enters the 6-digit OTP sent to the registered e-mail and clicks 'Submit OTP' to complete registration (a welcome e-mail follows). A returning user clicks 'Login' (or a declaration card, which opens the login form if not already logged in), accepts the Terms and Conditions, enters Passport/Gov. ID number, password and captcha, clicks 'Login', and enters the 6-digit e-mail OTP; after login the passenger answers a screening questionnaire, and any 'Yes' answer directs them to fill the declaration form and report to the Customs Officer at the Red Channel counter on arrival. To declare, the passenger opens the Baggage Declaration tab, selects 'Baggage Declaration', clicks 'OK' on the guidelines popup, chooses 'Self' or 'Family Member' (with a dropdown of added members), completes the form sections — passenger/passport details, contact and other details, travel details, earlier export certificate declared, item/gold/silver/foreign-currency, and upload documents — then clicks 'Submit' or 'Save As Draft'; a success message appears and the baggage declaration dashboard opens, where declarations can be viewed, edited or deleted until they are verified.

India currency declaration and carriage permits: the Currency Declaration Form (CDF) is a stand-alone statutory form annexed to the Foreign Exchange Management (Export and Import of Currency) Regulations, 2015 (FEMA 6(R)/RB-2015, as amended in 2019 and 2020) and appended to the 2026 Customs Baggage Regulations; it is distinct from the ordinary electronic baggage declarations (CBD-I/CBD-II). A CDF must be filed on arrival only when the aggregate value of foreign exchange brought in as currency notes, bank notes or travellers cheques strictly exceeds USD 10,000 or its equivalent and/or the aggregate value of foreign currency notes strictly exceeds USD 5,000 or its equivalent; at or below both thresholds no CDF is required. Foreign exchange in any form may be brought into India freely and without limit, provided it is declared on the CDF on arrival to the Customs authorities when the thresholds are exceeded; taking foreign exchange out of India is prohibited unless it was obtained from an authorised dealer or money changer or is otherwise covered by general or special permission of the Reserve Bank of India (for example foreign exchange retained under the 2015 Possession and Retention Regulations). Non-residents may take out of India unspent foreign exchange up to the amount they originally brought in and, where required, declared on arrival. Indian rupee notes carry separate capped permissions: a person resident in India may take out of India (other than to Nepal or Bhutan), and bring back on return from a temporary visit (other than from Nepal or Bhutan), Government of India and RBI currency notes up to INR 25,000 per person; a person resident outside India who is not a citizen of Pakistan or Bangladesh may bring into or take out of India such notes up to INR 25,000 per person. Nepal and Bhutan exception: only Government of India and RBI notes of denominations not exceeding INR 100 generally move between India and Nepal or Bhutan, though an individual travelling from India to Nepal or Bhutan may carry Mahatma Gandhi (new) series INR 200 and/or INR 500 notes up to a total limit of INR 25,000, and Nepalese or Bhutanese currency notes may be taken out or brought in. The USD 10,000 and USD 5,000 figures are declaration triggers only, not carriage limits or licences: the authority to carry foreign exchange or rupee notes comes from the FEMA 2015 Regulations and RBI permissions, and any carriage outside those permissions (including rupee notes above INR 25,000, or foreign currency not obtained from an authorised person) requires prior general or special permission of the Reserve Bank. UI supplement (per the manual's published screen flow, not a filing completed in this research): inside the Atithi baggage declaration form, selecting the Currency checkbox makes an inline Currency Declaration section appear within the same CBD form; currency rows are added or deleted with the add/delete icons, the currency type is selected from the drop-down menu, the respective details are filled in, and the total is auto-calculated; the passenger then uses the same 'Save As Draft'/'Submit' buttons as the rest of the baggage declaration. Accordingly, the currency details are captured within the single Atithi baggage-declaration submission; this checkbox-expanded section within the CBD screen flow is not evidence of two independent online submissions.

Unaccompanied baggage containing dutiable personal effects for satisfying daily necessities of life must be declared electronically in CBD-II with supporting documents (regulation 3(2)); the Assistant/Deputy Commissioner may allow another manner where no electronic declaration was made. A declaration may be filed for unaccompanied baggage by an authorised person; for a passenger under eighteen only a family member or legal guardian may file, or the passenger personally if travelling alone (regulation 8). Channel supplement: the February 2026 CBIC Guide for International Travellers — which itself states it carries no legal authority and that only notifications in the Gazette of India are legally binding — states in its CBD forms table (p. 46) that four CBD forms are handled on the ATITHI App/web portal while CBD-II (unaccompanied baggage) is handled on ICEGATE, and describes the 'automated system' as the portal at https://www.icegate.gov.in or the Atithi mobile/web application; the Atithi passenger manual likewise does not list CBD-II among the app's filing facilities. The reviewed official documents include no step-by-step ICEGATE CBD-II screens, so no ICEGATE registration or submission steps are asserted here.

Passengers taking out of India articles of personal effects (other than used personal effects for daily necessities) who intend duty-free clearance on return must declare such articles in advance before departure from India (regulation 4(1)). The CBD-III export certificate is issued on submission and is valid until the passenger's first arrival back in India or six months, whichever is earlier (regulations 4(2)-(3)). Channel supplement: per the same non-binding CBIC guide's CBD forms table, CBD-III (Export Certificate, filed by the departing passenger) and CBD-IV (Temporary Baggage Import Certificate, arriving tourist) are handled on the ATITHI App/web portal; the Atithi 2.0 manual's service list likewise includes 'Export Certificate (CBD-III)' and 'Temporary Baggage Import Certificate (CBD-IV)', so passengers reach these certificates through the same Atithi register/login/OTP flow described for the baggage declaration. This reflects the officially published guide and manual only, not a submission completed in this research.

Tourists carrying articles of personal effects (other than used personal effects for daily necessities) for their stay in India, intending duty-free temporary import subject to re-export until their first departure or within six months, shall declare such articles at arrival (regulation 4(4)). The CBD-IV temporary baggage import certificate may be issued and must be produced with the articles before Customs at departure (regulation 4(5)). Channel supplement: per the same non-binding CBIC guide's CBD forms table, CBD-III (Export Certificate, filed by the departing passenger) and CBD-IV (Temporary Baggage Import Certificate, arriving tourist) are handled on the ATITHI App/web portal; the Atithi 2.0 manual's service list likewise includes 'Export Certificate (CBD-III)' and 'Temporary Baggage Import Certificate (CBD-IV)', so passengers reach these certificates through the same Atithi register/login/OTP flow described for the baggage declaration. This reflects the officially published guide and manual only, not a submission completed in this research.