More than 5000 Consignments for Printed Books Stuck at Foreign Post Office Bombay as Modi Govt Bans Imports through Postal Channel in Budget 2019

·      Books must be imported by Air in regular Consignments with High Freight Cost

·      5.5% Customs Duty must be Paid through Bill of Entry Filing at Port with Importer Exporter Code

·      Remittance for Invoice through regular Banking Channel and RBI Exchange Control Oversight

-ABS News Service-

New Delhi, 22 August, 2019. The Narendra Modi government’s imposition of 5% customs duty on imported books along with a ban on personal imports through postal channel under heading 9804 of Customs Tariff has sent over 5000 consignments of books in Bombay Foreign Post Office to be dustbin. WIPO gifts of IPR books to World Trade Centre are also stuck at the Foreign Post Office. They must now get an IE Code from DGFT and pay 5.5% Customs Duty to rescue the free gift.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the increase in duty from zero to 5% during the Union Budget speech on July 5 as part of the “make in India” goal to encourage domestic publishing and the print industry. It is a moot point whether low volume books can ever be “indigenised”.

Postal channel was created through the good office of Universal Postal Union (UPU) under UN. It was a low cost alternative to import and export of books. With the closure of the heading 9804 covering postal imports, books can be exported only by the more expensive commercial freight air channel. India is signatory to UPU but is now going against the body.

India is also a signatory to the UNESCO Florence declaration of 17 June 1950 “Agreement on the Importation of Educational, Scientific and Cultural Materials”. Under this, the contracting States undertake not to apply customs duties or other charges on, or in connection with, the importation of books, publications and documents.

Further, indirect protection to domestic products as a taxation of imports for revenue purposes is not allowed under the UNESCO protocol. India is perhaps the first country in the world to put a tax on imported books.

Even exports through postal channel is not allowed. This is a blow to Indian publishing since postal channel is an efficient channel available to exporters and also users at the other end who get the books through post offices located in far corners of the globe.