Hi,

iam visiting India. is there anybody knows, how much hard cash (Euros) can we take to India without any Customs problems?

thanks in advance.
Sinu

Here,

http://www.cbec.gov.in/travellers.htm

Regards

read this message postet just 2 days ago...

http://www.trust7.com/en/foren/integration/sparbuch_account_is_counted_as_cash_by_custom_help

By the way, that's really interesting!

Detlef

@ramsam,

thanks for the link.
i didnt understood the difference between below 2 points a,b:

(iii) Declaration of foreign exchange/currency has be made before the custom officers in the following cases :
(a) where the value of foreign currency notes exceed US $ 5000 or equivalent
(b) where the aggregate value of foreign exchange including currency exceeds US $ 10,000 or equivalent

Qus 1: is it no problem (With Indian Customs) if myself and my wife(not working) each carry 3000 Euros ($4500)? or they consider €6000 as single family?

Qus 2: suppose if i take 3000 Euros, do i need to mention in Immigration form (even if it is <$5000)?

thank you.

@sinu78,

why to invite trouble or get into trouble for nothing when you have secure, cheap and easy ways to transfer money to india. 10,000 euro for as low as 5 euro fee and great exchnage rates!!!

imagine if you lose your handbag carrying the cash ? or if you happen to have hole in your pocket :-)

kindly realise that we live in high tech and more convinient world than you practicing.

yes, transfer option will be the best.
that is what I always do because you will have a proper documentation and in case you want to declare for tax purpose you have everything in paper.

in case you still want to bring cash for example 20K euro in case you travel with your wife, make sure that you hold 10K under your jacket and your wife hold 9999 euro in her purse, in that case you do not break a law. and make sure you do not have any addicional 2 euro coins in your shoe. then you have broke the law again because you have 20001 euro with you.

if you travel in 2 and you yourself hold 20K under your jacket you may be fined as well.

i read the example in www.focus.de, if a pair travel in car and the money is put in the car it can be problematisch sein, ha ha ha.

To detlef, thanks God you have read my treath.
I though I have screamed for nothing.
btw i have to pay the hotel 1 night because they couldnot make the paper work fast enough and couldnot find a computer in terminal C.

Dear VP,

yes I read your message and I found it really annoying!

I did not write more, because I do not know any good tip for you. I also 'googled' this and found something in 'Spiegel Önline', but nothing which could help.

I am really curious what will happen at the end, please keep us updated.

So you missed your flight because of this? I can not understand this. What the hell can a 'Sparbuch' with the name of your wife on it and with the money already in India can have to do with 'Geldwäsche'?

My English is not good enough to express my feelings, maybe your German is good enough to understand this:

Ich lese schon seit Jahren keinen 'Spiegel' mehr und ich sehe im Fernsehen nur noch selten Sendungen wie 'Monitor' oder 'Report', weil ich die Ungerechtigkeiten über die dort berichtet wird nicht mehr ertragen kann! Es gibt so viele Dinge bei denen ist man einfach machtlos und es ist einfach zum 'kotzen' wie man der Bürokratie ausgeliefert ist :-(

There are countless even worse examples, but this will be no consolation for you.

I wish you better luck for your next trips and have a fantastic time in India!!!

Viele Grüße aus Berlin
Detlef :-)

Detlef, thanks for your sympathy.
I really tend to hire lawyer to take care this problem. I found it useless to talk or explain things to them.
do you now a good one?

In fact, the next day, I went to their office to declare the sparbuch. I explained them 1st what condition of the sparbuch and then very typical statement from them. Gute Frage!
Ich muss mein Chef erst mall fragen!
Then from Chef to chef chef!
came back, yes, you have to declare it.
I asked if I should also declare my sparbuchcard from germany bank? or my 2 EC card? because all together I can take 10K in ausland?

in my mind I was thinking, if they even have to ask chef chef, how the hell one normal people will know?

I believe after this case, I can expect my luggages fully check again once I return to germany.

To all trust7er, be carefull with your luggages.
in the same day, I saw a lady (european look) luggage was checked and took out a lot of new clothes (no idea if they are fake one, or real one but very expensive).

@subir79

10,000 euro for as low as 5 euro fee and great exchnage rates!!!

would you mind letting us know which bank is offering this

@matrix,

I do not know about other countries, but to transfer to india there are different options to send money in a cheaper way.
ICICI remit2india
HDFC quickremit.

They charge minimal transaction fee.
Regarding the time taken, it is 3-5 working days, which is almost same as if u go to bank and transfer directly.

About this ´'free' money transfer. Check out what exchange rate. Their fees are somehow loaded in the exchange rates.

@matrix,

i use remit2india in co-operation with deutsche bank india. they have local account in frankfurt, so i make online transfer locally giving my indian bank details and rest they do. It is really fast at most it takes 3 working days, but genrally the transfer is done within 2 days.

@stutt,

you can compare exchange rates by sending the amount through local german bank. i found it all same, and in some case if amount is more than a specified value you get transfer fee waived off.

Actually with remit2india and money2india its free of cost and german limit is 11k euros per month.

@aaiyash : What do you mean by German Limit ? 11K Euros per month ?. Can you please elaborate ?.

Regards,

Sg.

It means that you cannot and you should not transfer more than 11k euro from a german bank to Indian bank or otherwise.

@aaiyash

Which rule says that?
me and many of my friends have / have been transferring not only 10k but even 50k or more Euros per month and things are fine. (used all the possibilities in last years...icici remit2india, hdfc remit, direct bank transfer etc.) So if you dont know or have not experienced, better dont misguide forum.

@Bmilan

@aaiyash

Which rule says that?
me and many of my friends have / have been transferring not only 10k but even 50k or more Euros per month and things are fine. (used all the possibilities in last years...icici remit2india, hdfc remit, direct bank transfer etc.) So if you dont know or have not experienced, better dont misguide forum.

Neither I have the rule book reference for you nor I am as rich as you to have the experience of transferring in magnitude of 50k thousand euros per month. But once I tried to transfer 12k to India and my bank (VR Bank) told me that in the cases when you have to transfer more than 11k euros you have to inform the Bundesbank prior to the xfer. Who would like to go into those hassles especially in a foreign country? As the famous saying goes you are not criminal until you are caught.

@aaiyash

"As the famous saying goes you are not criminal until you are caught."

didnt you find anything better to quote...anyway doesnt matter! there are things to take care of like each transaction should not be more than x value and how often and from which bank/accounts/services etc.
books are checked each and every year through taxconsultants and Wirtschaftsprüfer-C.A. and then goes to finanzamt, guys working in finance field know these little details so...simple!!
so again mind your words...

I am sorry if you found my language offending but I never meant that what you do is criminal. Moreover, one can only write his/her own exp. and hope it is useful for someone else. Only, since you have an experience contrary to mine does not means that while what I say is misleading and what you say is sacrosanct. Again, I found it quite naive of you to assume that a person who would pose a question here, would have knowledge of finance to an extent so much so that he/she can figure out other ways