We book parcels and documents out of our HSR Layout counter to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and the northern emirates on DTDC's overseas network. The UAE is the destination Bangalore families ask about most, and it is also the one where a badly written invoice causes the most trouble — so this page is mostly about paperwork and addressing rather than a rate card we do not hold.
Every consignment leaving India needs KYC from the sender — Aadhaar or PAN — and an itemised invoice listing each article, its quantity and its honest value. The UAE side then reads that invoice and nothing else. If it says “gift” and the box holds four sarees, the box stops.
On personal shipments, customs applies a duty threshold of AED 1,000 per consignment. Below it, personal-use parcels normally pass without import duty; 5% VAT on the assessed value is the standard charge either way, and it is billed to the person receiving the parcel, not to you. Above the threshold the shipment moves into a formal entry and is assessed on cost, insurance and freight together. Thresholds are set by UAE Customs and do change — treat the number as the current rule rather than a promise.
The commonest reason a Dubai parcel stalls is not duty. It is the address. The UAE does not use postal codes. A deliverable UAE address is a PO Box, or a Makani number — the ten-digit code that identifies a specific building entrance — together with the emirate, the area name and a working UAE mobile number. Without a phone number the courier cannot call, and in the UAE the call is how the delivery actually happens.
A second habit worth breaking: under-declaring value to dodge duty. On a route this busy customs sees the same declared figures every day and knows what a laptop or a gold chain is worth. An obviously low value invites inspection, revaluation, a penalty, or seizure — and it also voids any cover on the shipment, because cover pays out against the value you declared.
The UAE is straightforward on ordinary personal goods and unforgiving on a short list of specific items.
If you are unsure about one item in an otherwise ordinary box, ring us before you tape it shut. Repacking at our counter costs nothing; a seizure in Dubai costs the whole parcel.
Degree certificates, experience letters, police clearance and attested paperwork going out to someone in the middle of a visa process. These are the shipments where the deadline is real, so we book them the same day we collect and send you the air waybill number straight away.
Clothes, sealed sweets, coffee powder, festival items and things somebody forgot to pack. The whole trick with these is the invoice: list every item separately with a sensible value, and the box behaves itself at the other end.
Sealed snacks, books, warm clothes and medicine in personal quantity, to universities in Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Dubai. Send the prescription with any medicine — a photocopy inside the box and the original detail on the invoice.
Hardware, components and product samples from Bangalore offices to buyers and free-zone entities. These need a proper commercial invoice with a description customs can match to a tariff heading, and a declared value nobody has been creative with.
We do not publish an international rate card, because we do not hold one that would stay true for a week. International pricing moves with weight, dimensions, contents and the day you book. Tell us the emirate, the weight and what is inside, and you get a firm figure before anything is collected — not an estimate that changes at the counter.
We are an authorised DTDC booking partner. Your consignment goes out on a genuine DTDC air waybill and moves on DTDC's overseas network into the UAE. We are not a carrier and we do not claim relationships with carriers we do not have.
We do not quote a transit time we cannot stand behind. When we book, we tell you the service commitment we are actually given for your parcel that day, and you can follow it on the air waybill from there.
No. Perfume, attar, oils, gels and aerosols are prohibited on our booking, in the UAE lane and everywhere else. This is not a case-by-case rule — the answer does not change if the bottle is sealed or boxed.
Sealed, dry, factory-packed sweets with a printed label and a long shelf life, yes. Anything khoya or paneer based, no — it is dairy, it is perishable, and it is the item most likely to get the whole box opened.
The emirate, the area, and either a PO Box or a Makani number, plus a UAE mobile number that the recipient actually answers. There are no postal codes in the UAE, so a street address alone is not enough to deliver against.
Possibly. VAT at 5% is standard on the assessed value, and duty applies above the AED 1,000 threshold on personal consignments. Whatever customs charges is billed to the recipient. We cannot waive it and nobody who tells you they can is being honest with you.
No, and we will not write an invoice that does it. Under-declaring is what gets parcels held, revalued and penalised, and it removes any cover on the shipment, since cover is paid against the declared value.
Tell us the emirate, the weight and what is in the box. We will quote it, collect it free anywhere in Bengaluru, and fill the paperwork in with you.
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