Hurry, NRI gifting season is here

By Kul Bhushan Sep 26, 2006, 10:15 GMT

'With Navratri and Ramadan in full swing, the gifting season is here for NRIs,' said Omar Patel, who has both Muslim and Hindu relatives in India. When you can't be there to celebrate with your dear ones in India, surprise them with a gift at their doorstep. Better still, treat them to a dinner or holiday.

Surf on the Internet and you can send flowers, dry fruits, Indian sweetmeats, chocolates, cakes, food hampers, toys, watches, jewellery, cameras, perfumes and aftershave lotions, handbags and leather goods, handicrafts, home furnishings, flower vases, saris, garments et all, as the list is endless.

You can also gift them dinner at a five-star hotel or a restaurant in their city or a complete holiday tour by pre-paying the transport, touring and hotel package. Yes, it's all possible at the click of a mouse and a credit card.

First, let's look at the festivals. Ramadan for the Muslims and Durga Puja and Navratri for the Hindus are going on right now. Id is the big celebration for Muslims after Ramadan. For Hindus, it is Karva Chauth Oct 10, followed by Diwali Oct 21 and both these festivals mean gifts galore for NRIs to send back home.

Brothers have to send special gifts to their sisters for Bhaiya Dooj or Tikka that follows a couple of days after Diwali. Then the Christmas season is not far off. The marriage season is about to take off too; so there must be some marriage in your extended family or among dear friends back home. Hurry, the NRI gifting season is here upon us.

Gone are the days when NRIs sent gift parcels by post and these were cleared through the customs after delays. No customs clearance is needed for gifts up to Rs.2,000 as long as you do not send alcohol, arms and ammunition, banned books and magazines, seeds and electronic items.

These will be - hopefully - delivered to the homes of your relatives or friends. Any gift over this amount requires a Customs Clearance Permit. To obtain this permit, you have to file an application with a letter from you as the donor, a pro-forma certified by you and application fee. All this red tape takes time; so go for the Internet option.

The days when the post office staff salivated at the 'phoren' gifts in parcels are long gone as everything 'phoren' is available aplenty in India. As an NRI, you can send cash gifts of any amount through a bank but remember that any sum over Rs.25,000 will be liable to income tax by the recipient unless he/she is getting married or getting it as inheritance or in contemplation of the death of the payer.

These days NRIs send gifts just to show their love at festivals, birthdays and other family events. And it has never been so easy. Going to a search engine on the Internet, I typed 'gifts to India' and within 10 seconds no less than 44 pages popped up with a dozen sites one each page.

That's 528 sites -- serving you to send gifts! These are not just websites but portals that have many websites as components. With a mind-boggling array of gifts lined up, one site offers express delivery in 24 hours to over 70 cities across India! Obviously, sending gifts to India is big business.

Here is another innovative way to send gifts and save money as well. Go to an auction site in India and see what they have on offer. Make a bid and if you manage to get that particular item for less than a song, pay for it and request them to deliver it to your relative or friend.

Obviously, the same principle applies to international auction sites as well. But bid well before the festival as these sites take more time to deliver as compared with 'gifting' sites that usually make the delivery in 24 hours.

Perhaps you may want to send your Indian gift from the US to your NRI relatives in East Africa, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad & Tobago, Hong Kong or wherever Indians have settled. No problem. Some of these sites have links that can deliver to most countries in the world. Just surf the net and find out what vast choices you have to show and shower your love this festive season.

So whether it is Navratri or Ramadan, Diwali or Tikka, Christmas or a marriage, just surf the Internet and shop at leisure for the perfect gift for your loved ones in India as this festive season is in full swing. That is, if you cannot make the trip!

(A media consultant to a UN Agency, Kul Bhushan previously worked abroad as a newspaper editor and has travelled to over 55 countries. He lives in New Delhi and can be contacted at: kulbhushan2038@gmail.com.)

© 2006 Indo-Asian News Service