Back home / Going home
Customs both ways: what you can carry to India and back
India's new baggage rules from February 2026 (₹75,000 duty-free, jewellery by weight only), cash limits in both directions, and the foods, sweets and medicines US customs stops on the way back.
Arriving in India
India’s Baggage Rules, 2026 took effect on February 2, 2026.
- Duty-free allowance: ₹75,000 of goods for Indian residents, people of Indian origin and foreigners on non-tourist visas (₹25,000 for foreign tourists). Plus one new laptop or notepad duty-free for anyone 18 or older.
- Jewellery, if you’ve lived abroad more than a year: 40 g for women, 20 g for everyone else, with no value cap any more.
- Cash: declare foreign currency notes over USD 5,000, or total foreign exchange (notes plus traveller’s cheques) over USD 10,000, on a Currency Declaration Form. You can carry up to ₹25,000 in Indian rupees.
- You can file the baggage declaration electronically up to 3 days before arrival (ICEGATE or the Atithi app). The e-Arrival card introduced in October 2025 is for foreign nationals; Indian passport and OCI holders are exempt. US-citizen children travelling on OCI are exempt too.
- Anything above the allowance goes through the red channel and is charged duty.
Leaving the US
If you carry more than $10,000 in cash or monetary instruments out of (or into) the US, it’s legal but you must file FinCEN Form 105 (online at fincen105.cbp.dhs.gov before you fly).
Coming back to the US
Food: declare everything. Undeclared prohibited food can cost up to $1,000 for a first offence.
- Allowed: ghee and butter, hard and soft cheeses, most commercially packed dry snacks, spices, tea, roasted nuts, baked goods without meat.
- Risky: milk-based sweets (barfi, peda, rasgulla) and other dairy from India, unless commercially packed and shelf-stable. Many are refused.
- Not allowed: meat and anything containing meat (including many packaged curries with meat), most fresh fruit and vegetables (mangoes only from approved irradiated shipments, not in your suitcase), seeds and plants, homemade pickles with meat.
Medicines: up to a 90-day supply for personal use, in original packaging, with an English prescription or doctor’s letter. Drugs not approved in the US and controlled substances (some sleep and pain medicines common in India) can be seized.
Gifts and shopping: returning residents get an $800 duty-free exemption after 48 hours abroad (once every 30 days). The rules define residents to include people who live in the US, so H-1B and H-4 holders who live here generally qualify; declare the total either way.
Cash: the same $10,000 FinCEN 105 rule applies coming in.
Before you fly
Check your visa stamp, passport validity and I-94 rules with the travel-ready check, and if you need a new visa stamp in India, see the appointment waits and visa stamping in 2026.
The good
- India's duty-free allowance rose to ₹75,000 in 2026
- Jewellery is now limited by weight only: 40 g for women, 20 g for others after a year abroad
- Ghee and hard cheeses can come into the US from India
The hard
- Milk sweets, meat products and many fruits are stopped at US customs
- Over $10,000 in cash must be declared leaving and entering the US
- Undeclared food can cost a $1,000 penalty
Sources
- PIB: Baggage Rules, 2026 (duty-free allowance, jewellery)
- CBIC: Notification 14/2026-Customs (N.T.), Baggage Rules 2026
- RBI: FAQ on carrying foreign exchange and Indian rupees
- CBP: Money and other monetary instruments (FinCEN 105)
- CBP: Bringing agricultural products into the United States
- USDA APHIS: Milk, dairy and eggs
- USDA APHIS: Meats, poultry and seafood
- FDA: Personal importation
- eCFR 19 CFR 148: Returning residents' $800 exemption
Rules change often. If something here looks out of date, it probably is; check the official source and talk to an immigration attorney about your own case.