Baggage Rules 2026: What Changed for Gold Jewellery Travellers

The Baggage Rules 2026, in force from 2 February 2026, made the duty-free jewellery allowance a pure weight limit: 40 grams for women and 20 grams for men and other passengers who have lived abroad for more than a year. The old rupee value caps that sat alongside those weights were removed. The General Free Allowance for other goods is now ₹75,000 for Indian residents arriving by air or sea.

A separate change hit later in the year. In May 2026 India raised its import duty on gold from 6% to 15%, and the concessional duty for eligible passengers moved with it. If you last flew home with gold in 2025, both changes affect you.

Before and after, side by side

The first two rows are the heart of it. Under the old system, a high gold price could push a modest 30 g necklace over the rupee cap even though it was well under the weight limit. That problem is gone.

Why the value cap mattered so much

Gold prices rose sharply over the years while the rupee caps stayed fixed. In practice, the weight limits had become close to meaningless, because travellers hit the value ceiling long before the gram ceiling. Officers had to work out the value of each piece, and travellers argued over whether making charges counted.

Weight is simpler for everyone. A scale gives one number. Your invoice gives the same number. There is far less room for dispute.

One necklace, two rulebooks

Picture Lakshmi, an illustrative traveller who has lived in Muscat and Dubai for six years. She brings home a single 32 g 22K necklace with a heavy handmade finish. Her bill, including making and VAT, comes to the equivalent of several lakh rupees.

• Old approach: the officer checks both tests. The necklace passes on weight, but if its value is above the rupee cap, the slice above the cap is dutiable.
• 2026 approach: the officer checks weight. Thirty-two grams is under 40 g. No duty.

Same woman, same necklace, same airport in Thiruvananthapuram. The only difference is which rulebook was in force on the day she landed.

To see how much gold prices have moved, look at the 24K chart below. It shows the past year of Dubai prices, which is exactly the kind of rise that made a fixed rupee cap unworkable.

What the change means for you

If you are a woman who has lived abroad for years

You can now bring a heavier, more expensive piece than before, as long as the total stays within 40 g. A 38 g 22K set with a high making charge is fully inside the limit. Under the old rules, its value alone might have made part of it dutiable.

If you are a man working in the Gulf

Your 20 g is now a clean weight figure. A 20 g chain is fine regardless of price. A 22 g kada is not, regardless of price.

If you are on a short holiday

Not much has changed for you on jewellery. The 40 g and 20 g allowance still needs a stay abroad of more than one year. New jewellery from a short trip is dutiable, and gold or silver in forms other than ornaments is not covered by the ₹75,000 General Free Allowance. The bigger free allowance helps with electronics and clothes, not with gold. See our page on short-trip gold rules for the details.

If you are an NRI planning to move back

The jewellery allowance applies on any qualifying trip, including your final one. Larger quantities, and anything in bar form, go through the eligible passenger scheme at 15%. Planning that move is covered in the guide for NRIs returning for good.

What did not change

Plenty of travellers assume "new rules" means "more relaxed rules" across the board. Several things stayed exactly as before:

• The one-year condition. You still need to have stayed abroad for more than a year for the jewellery allowance.
• Bona fide personal jewellery only. Stock-like quantities can still be treated as commercial.
• Bars and coins are always dutiable. Even a single small coin.
• No pooling. Each passenger has their own allowance. Family members cannot combine grams or the General Free Allowance.
• Duty on tariff value. Customs still assesses gold at its own notified value, not your bill.
• Declare or risk confiscation. Walking through the green channel with dutiable gold can still lead to confiscation, a penalty and, in serious cases, prosecution.

The duty hike: the change most people missed

The Baggage Rules changed how much you can bring free. The May 2026 duty hike changed how much you pay for everything above that. The eligible passenger rate jumped from 6% to 15% (10% basic customs duty plus 5% AIDC).

Here is what that does to a typical excess. Say a woman brings 60 g of jewellery after two years abroad, so 20 g is over her allowance. Take an illustrative tariff value of ₹10,000 a gram, so the excess is valued at ₹2,00,000.

• At the old 6%: duty of ₹12,000
• At the current 15%: duty of ₹30,000

That is two and a half times the bill for the same 20 grams. The hike also pushed up Indian retail prices, which widened the gap between Dubai and India. So the trip can still make sense, but you need to redo the sums. Our explainer on how the duty hike changed Dubai gold maths walks through the comparison.

Today's rates for all four karats are below, in rupees and dirhams.

Common misreadings of the 2026 rules

• "There is no limit now." Wrong. The value cap went; the weight limit stayed.
• "The ₹75,000 covers my gold." Not for bars, coins or other non-ornament gold, and not as a way round the jewellery rules for short-trip buyers.
• "Old rates still apply because I bought before May." Duty is assessed when you arrive, at the rate in force then.
• "My wife's unused grams can cover my chain." No pooling, then or now.

More of these are tackled in our list of common myths about bringing gold from Dubai.

The rules were checked in November 2026. Notifications can change at short notice, so confirm the current position with Indian Customs or CBIC before you fly.

What to do differently on your next trip

1. Stop thinking in rupees for the allowance. Weigh pieces and add grams.
2. Recalculate any planned excess at 15%, not 6%.
3. Keep invoices showing weight and purity; they now carry most of the evidential weight.
4. Use the red channel or e-declaration for anything over the limit.
5. Check the full limits table on our gold allowance pillar page and the price trend on Dubai gold price history.