Students in the UK
Winter clothing, bedding, sealed snacks, textbooks and medicine going to universities across the country. Term addresses change — send us the current one, with the hall of residence and room number, not the one from last year.
Parcels and documents from our HSR Layout counter to addresses across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, booked on a DTDC air waybill. The UK is unusual among our destinations in that import VAT starts at the first pound — there is no small-parcel free pass — so it is worth understanding what the recipient will be asked for before you send.
Britain removed low-value consignment relief when it left the EU customs union, and the consequence still surprises people. Import VAT at 20% applies to goods arriving from India from the very first pound of value. There is no threshold below which a parcel simply passes free. The carrier normally collects the VAT, plus a handling charge, from the recipient before delivery.
Customs duty is a separate matter and only begins above £135 in goods value. Below that line you are looking at VAT and handling only; above it, duty is assessed according to what the goods are, which is precisely why the description on your invoice matters.
There is one genuine relief and it is narrow. A gift sent from one private individual to another, not bought or paid for by the recipient, is relieved of import VAT up to £39 in value. Above £39 and up to the higher gift limit, a reduced rate of duty can apply. The parcel has to actually be a gift — a commercial shipment labelled “gift” is not a gift, and HMRC has seen the trick many thousands of times.
Addressing. The postcode does the work in Britain. A full, correctly spelled postcode plus the house number or name will find an address on its own; a postcode with a digit wrong will send the parcel to the other end of a county. Send us the complete postcode with the space in the right place, the house number, the street, the town, and a UK mobile number.
On food: meat, dairy and other products of animal origin are restricted into Great Britain from outside the country. Sealed, dry, shelf-stable vegetarian food with a printed label is what we will book. Homemade items, ghee-based sweets and anything requiring refrigeration are not worth the risk.
Ordinary personal effects travel well. The restrictions that catch people out are animal-origin food and anything liquid.
Anything you are unsure about, ask before the box is taped. We would rather leave an item behind at the counter than have a British courier hold the whole consignment over it.
Winter clothing, bedding, sealed snacks, textbooks and medicine going to universities across the country. Term addresses change — send us the current one, with the hall of residence and room number, not the one from last year.
Clothes, sweets and gifts to relatives, especially around Diwali and in wedding season. If it genuinely is a gift from you to them, say so on the invoice — the £39 relief is real, and it only applies to real gifts.
Certificates, attested paperwork, employment documents and legal originals. The simplest category to send to Britain: no food rules, no animal-origin questions, and clearance turns on nothing more than a clean declaration.
Samples and small commercial consignments to UK buyers. Above £135 in value these attract duty as well as VAT, so the description and the tariff classification on the invoice do real work. Tell us what the goods are in plain terms and we will get the paperwork right.
We quote each international consignment individually and we do not publish an international rate card. That is deliberate: we hold no card that would stay accurate, and we will not print a figure we cannot honour at the counter. Give us weight, dimensions, postcode and contents and you will get a firm price up front.
DTDC. We are an authorised DTDC booking partner in HSR Layout; your parcel goes out on a genuine DTDC air waybill and travels on DTDC's overseas network into the UK.
Usually yes. Import VAT at 20% applies from the first pound of value on goods from India, and the carrier collects it — along with a handling fee — before delivery. Duty is added on top only above £135. A genuine private gift under £39 is relieved of the VAT.
Only if it is one. The relief is for parcels sent by one private person to another, not bought or reimbursed by the recipient. Labelling a commercial shipment as a gift is a false declaration, and we will not write the invoice that way.
Sealed, dry, factory-packed and labelled, yes. Anything made with khoya, paneer or other dairy is restricted as a product of animal origin. Homemade food is not accepted.
We do not print a transit figure here. When we book your shipment we tell you the service commitment it is given on the day and hand you the air waybill number to follow it.
The full postcode, house number or name, street, town and a UK mobile number for the recipient. The postcode is what the delivery network routes on, so get it exactly right.
No. Perfume and attar are liquids, they are prohibited on our bookings, and no packing arrangement changes that answer.
Give us the postcode, the weight and what is in the box. Free collection anywhere in Bengaluru and a firm quote before we take it.