Documents, student boxes and family parcels from our HSR Layout counter to Canadian addresses, booked on a DTDC air waybill. Canada's duty-free allowance on goods arriving from India is much lower than most senders expect, so the useful thing this page can tell you is what your recipient is likely to be charged and how to keep the paperwork clean.
The higher de minimis figures people quote for Canada — the ones in the tens or hundreds of dollars — belong to the trade agreement with the United States and Mexico. They do not apply to a parcel from India. For goods arriving from the rest of the world, Canada’s general low-value threshold is CAD 20, which in practice means almost anything you send will be assessed for duty and for GST or HST at the receiving province’s rate.
The one meaningful relief is the gift exemption: a genuine gift sent by one individual to another, valued at CAD 60 or less, enters free of duty and taxes. Only the amount above CAD 60 is assessable if you go over. Alcohol and tobacco are excluded from the exemption entirely, and a parcel someone paid you for is not a gift.
Because charges are the norm rather than the exception here, the invoice is doing more work on this route than on almost any other. List each article separately, describe it plainly, and value it honestly. Canada Border Services assesses on the declared value, and a token declaration on a heavy box of clothing is the profile most likely to be pulled, revalued and penalised.
Addressing. Canadian postal codes run three characters, a space, three characters — letter, digit, letter, space, digit, letter, digit. We need that code, the unit or apartment number, the street, the city, the two-letter province code and a Canadian phone number. Winter matters too: in a Prairie or Ontario January, a courier who cannot reach the recipient by phone will leave a card rather than a parcel.
Food and plant material are inspected by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, and that is where most refusals happen.
Ask us about anything borderline before you pack. Removing one packet at our counter takes a minute; a CFIA refusal in Toronto takes the box.
Warm clothing above everything else, along with bedding, books, sealed snacks and medicine. Canadian winters mean this route peaks late in the year. Send the current campus or apartment address with the unit number — Canadian buildings are unit-addressed and a missing unit stalls delivery.
Clothes, gifts and household items to Toronto, the Greater Toronto Area, Vancouver, Calgary and Ottawa. Expect a duty and tax bill on anything of substance — the CAD 20 threshold makes charges routine, not exceptional.
Certificates, attested documents and originals required for study or work applications. Clean, quick and free of any food or agricultural complication.
Genuine person-to-person gifts under CAD 60 in value clear free of duty and tax. Keep the parcel to that value if you want it to arrive without a bill, and let us mark it correctly.
Each international consignment is quoted on its own — we hold no international rate card and will not print numbers we cannot honour. Tell us the weight, the box size, the destination postal code and what is inside, and we will give you a firm figure before collection.
DTDC. We book as an authorised DTDC partner, on a genuine DTDC air waybill, into DTDC's overseas network.
Because Canada's duty-free threshold for goods from India is only CAD 20. The larger figures often quoted apply to shipments from the United States and Mexico under their trade agreement, not to India. Duty plus provincial GST or HST is normal on this route.
Keep it to a genuine gift, individual to individual, worth CAD 60 or less, and let us declare it as such. Beyond that, expect an assessment.
Sealed, factory-packed, labelled and vegetarian, yes. Anything dairy-based, meat-based or homemade, no — the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is strict and the whole parcel can be held over one item.
We do not publish a transit time for this route. At booking you get the commitment your shipment is actually given and the air waybill number to track it.
Unit or apartment number, street, city, two-letter province code, the six-character postal code, and a Canadian phone number. The unit number is not optional in most Canadian cities.
No. They are liquids and we do not book them to any destination.
Send us the postal code, the weight and the contents. Free collection across Bengaluru, and a firm quote before anything moves.