Documents, family parcels and student boxes going from Bangalore to the United States, booked at our HSR Layout counter onto a DTDC air waybill. The American import rules changed materially in 2025 and a lot of advice still floating around is out of date, so read the customs section before you assume a small parcel goes through free.
For years the working assumption for anything posted to America was the US$800 de minimis — parcels under that value entered without duty. That is no longer a safe assumption. During 2025 the United States suspended duty-free de minimis treatment for commercial shipments from all origins, and low-value parcels are now assessed rather than waved through. A genuine person-to-person gift of modest value is treated differently from a commercial consignment, but the old habit of assuming “it’s under eight hundred dollars, so it’s free” no longer holds.
What this means in practice is simple: write the invoice as if it will be read, because it will be. Every article listed, described in plain English a customs officer can match to a tariff heading, with a value that reflects what the thing is actually worth. “Gift items” as a line description is the fastest way to have a box opened.
Food is the other trap. Food entering the United States falls under FDA rules, which require prior notice for commercial food imports, and meat and dairy from India are prohibited outright on animal-health grounds. Sealed, factory-packed, shelf-stable vegetarian items are the only food we will book, and even those are declared item by item. Do not put homemade food in a parcel to America.
Addressing. US couriers deliver to a street address, never to a PO Box, so a parcel addressed to a box number will not move. We need the street, the apartment or unit number, the city, the two-letter state code, the ZIP code, and a US phone number for the recipient. Campus addresses need the dormitory and room or mail-stop as well — university mailrooms return anything they cannot match to a resident.
American import controls are less about morality than about agriculture, health and accurate paperwork.
If a single item on your list is doubtful, tell us before packing. It is far easier to leave one thing out in Bengaluru than to argue about it from ten thousand kilometres away.
The biggest single reason Bangalore ships to America. Warm clothing, bedding, books, sealed snacks and medicine for someone starting a semester. Two things go wrong repeatedly: an incomplete campus address, and food nobody declared properly. Both are avoidable at the counter.
Transcripts, degree certificates, notarised affidavits and original paperwork required by a university or an employer. Documents are the cleanest thing to send to the US — no food rules, no agricultural questions, just a clean declaration and an address that exists.
Clothes, gifts and household items to relatives across the country. Value these honestly on the invoice. A box of clothing declared at a token figure is the classic profile for an inspection, and inspections cost days.
Product samples and hardware from Bangalore companies to US customers and partners. These need a real commercial invoice, a clear description, and the consignee's tax or EIN detail if the receiving side asks for it.
We do not publish an international price list. We do not hold one that would remain accurate, and quoting a figure we cannot honour is the one thing we refuse to do. Give us the weight, the box dimensions, the destination state and the contents, and we will give you a firm number before we collect anything.
DTDC. We are an authorised DTDC booking partner, the consignment is booked on a genuine DTDC air waybill, and it moves into the United States on DTDC's overseas network. We do not claim partnerships with other carriers.
No, not in the way people remember. The United States suspended duty-free de minimis treatment for commercial shipments in 2025, so a parcel is no longer automatically exempt because it is under that value. Assume duty may be assessed, declare accurately, and expect any charge to be billed to the recipient.
Only sealed, factory-packed, shelf-stable vegetarian items with a printed ingredient label — and they must be declared. No dairy, no meat, nothing homemade. Ghee-heavy and khoya-based mithai is not worth attempting.
No. Courier shipments require a street address. Send us the street, the unit or apartment number, city, state code and ZIP, plus a US phone number.
We do not put a transit figure on this page, because we would be guessing. At booking we tell you the commitment the shipment is actually given that day and give you the air waybill so you can watch it yourself.
Personal quantities, in original packaging, with the prescription — yes. Bulk quantities, loose tablets in a pouch, or anything that reads as commercial resale, no.
They contact the recipient for information or payment. We will help you work out what they are asking for. The best protection against a hold is an invoice that was honest in the first place.
Tell us the state, the weight and what is inside. We will quote it, collect it free anywhere in Bengaluru, and write the invoice with you.