Got an import? Well yellow is the way

[tsk1979]

Foreign cars will not be required to sport Yellow number plates.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/a...ow/1655655.cms
It seems that if the color of the license plate is yellow then it will subtly change the psychi of the owner and convince him to pay tax rather than evade it. Also to remove corruption in RTO's the walls will be yellow.
Well just joking.
The DGFT thinks that requiring all cars imported under EPCG scheme to get yellow number plates will solve the problem of illegal imports. How its going to be done? Well its simple.
EPCG cars will be required to be registered as tourist vehicles, so no personal ownership here. So looks like the plans to scrap EPCG scheme are indeed off.

But IMHO its not going to help much. Many cars come in through the fake NRI route. EPCG violations are easy to catch if the govt is willing,regardless of registeration type. its the NRI loophole that needs to be plugged. Again our officials have shown they are quite good at barking up the wrong trees.

For those who came in late, let me summarize the two scams
1. EPCG scam.
Hotels and exporters are allowed to import foreign cars by paying lower duty because they are earners of Forex. There is a cutoff like blah blah dollars/ month earning or something like that. They cars are supposed to ferry hotel guests and on business purposes. But they are being used by the owners for personal use. So what will a tourist number plate do?? Okay it will take care of self driven cars, but majority of these luxury machines are being used by owners who are chauffer driven. So when a cop flags down a yellow plated car, all the owner has to say he is a guest of the hotel. Problem solved.
Solution? Well surprise checks. A big city has maybe 20 hotels using this scheme. Moreover there are some cases when these cars are sold off. That also is easily checkable if the officials are willing
2. NRI scam
This is the favorite. NRIs are allowed to bring in their cars, conditions apply. Normally the conditions are forgotten, fake NRIs are created etc., etc.,
Yellow number plate thing is not going to change anything, right?

Moreover such scams are not due to the loopholes completely. A large contribution comes through corrupt officials. So unless a crackdown is made there, you can color the town yellow, and all you will get it Sh**

[nitrous]

2. NRI scam
This is the favorite. NRIs are allowed to bring in their cars, conditions apply. Normally the conditions are forgotten, fake NRIs are created etc., etc.,

U're referring to 'Transfer of Residence' or TR as its popularly called.
Passports of 'daily-wage' labourers are used to import exotic cars/bikes.
And,u don't need the 'yellow-plates' for this.

[tsk1979]

Exactly, this is the major loophole and the govt is not doing anything for this. They are going for the EPCG scheme only

[nitrous]

Legally, the car/bike should not be sold for atleast 2 years from its entry into port/registration. So, the vehicle is registered in the 'TR passport holder's name ,but is used by the buyer who gets a 'TO' form signed by the owner.
So, there isn't much choice for the cops.
Moreover, the duty for TR is 40% while the EPCG is just 5%.

[ajmat]

There are genuine users of the EPCG like the Leela, ITC who need those Camry's etc. We need to encourage them.

Am sure the limo's will come in. One can always stick white plates over the yellow before diving into the Oberoi - Velcro is useful.

Not much of a prevention. They should have raised the barriers - i.e. pay duty and recover duty and interest against actual forex realised

[dipen]

Originally Posted by ajmat

They should have raised the barriers - i.e. pay duty and recover duty and interest against actual forex realised

Absolutely Perfect ....

[S600BENZ]

Originally Posted by nitrous

Legally, the car/bike should not be sold for atleast 2 years from its entry into port/registration. So, the vehicle is registered in the 'TR passport holder's name ,but is used by the buyer who gets a 'TO' form signed by the owner.
So, there isn't much choice for the cops.
Moreover, the duty for TR is 40% while the EPCG is just 5%.

Its not 40% for T.R cars. Its 154% on the depreciated value. So what the dealers used to do was change the VIN of the car and make it older on paper at least and claim max depreciation which is incidentally upto 70% on the value when the car was new.
So for example if the car is a 2003 Land cruiser, the VIN was changed to a 1998 and if the price of the car in 1998 was for e.g 50000 USD, the value calculated would be 70% less of 50000 USd i.e 15000 USD and then 154% is paid on this value. Documents would be provided from the country of import to validate the above.

Now the customs are cracking down big time on this route of import also by checking the authenticity of the person bringng the car down, as in can he really afford such a expensive car. Also the authenticity of the VIN no is verified much more closely.
The only way now is to get it under OGL by paying 111.5% duty on a brand new car whose value is more then 40K USD.
Cheers

[Rehaan]

Just saw a car with a bright BLUE number plate.... whats that about?

cya
R

[v12]

Originally Posted by Rehaan

Just saw a car with a bright BLUE number plate.... whats that about?

cya
R

Not sure. But i've seen a UN (as in United Nations) car with Blue plates and white numbers.

[satish_appasani]

We can see UN registered cars plenty in Hyderabad. Most of them are Nissan Bluebirds (looks like old gen Altima), pickups and vans. Even locally bought OHCs have US plate. These cars are used by ICRISAT.

I never saw any recent cars imported by ICRISAT. I think now they are buying indian cars.

[ajmat]

Had dinner with a friend who owns a resort and had imported two BMW's. Found his BMW was missing. He mentioned he hadd sent it to the resort as there were a few VIP guests.

Asked him about DRI issues and he replied that they are a pain. They keep tracking the cars and sending decoys to ask if the BMWs are available on hire etc.

Looks like they are clamping down hard

[V-16]

Originally Posted by ajmat

There are genuine users of the EPCG like the Leela, ITC who need those Camry's etc. We need to encourage them.

Am sure the limo's will come in. One can always stick white plates over the yellow before diving into the Oberoi - Velcro is useful.

Not much of a prevention. They should have raised the barriers - i.e. pay duty and recover duty and interest against actual forex realised

Its not taht easy to import under EPCG guys, believe me Ive imported 45 cars in that scheme since the last 8-10 years or from whenthe scheem started. Ill explain how;

1) you r required to submit a past record of three years of collection of foriegn exchange or for a new project give appropriate projections. In giving wrong records of the past ure actually commitng a FEMA violation (foriegn exchange violation) on which the law is very very strict. The basic finda is that u have to earn 8 times the foriegn exchage u save , i.e. duty, etc in some specific period, if not then ure liable to pay the interest accumulated from retrospective effect and / or cofiscation o fthe vehicle.
2)If you give wrong projections (which the Delhi Joker did, with full knowledge of the authorities) then ud better have a bigger back up plan better than selling ur cars and running away later. as you see and saw, it did'nt work.
3)Who suffered? the Idiots who bought cars imported in such schemes. I mean if ur paying crores, then wont u atleast go thru the papers etc. See what happened to Suniel Shetty ( I hope I got his numerological spelling right unless it spells so-nil.) These guys live in reel lives and so do most of our country's super rich who think they're above the law.
4) The law is now eloquent about the ''yellow no. plates'' but the drafting was not done properly. As one knows, in our country, if a law covers 50 fronts, then there are so many people who will find out 500 loop holes to such laws.
5) If these sellers or buyers ever thought that they would get away with it, then it only shows how much respect they have for our laws.. Believe me when read the conditions they're like tying u down and everything and they have thought of everything ( u wish!!). But I guess that snot it is it?

Ill be glad to answer (or atleast ill try to my utmost)any question anyone has on this policy

[Caduceus]

Any provision to import used cars...? And why is left hand drive not allowed but yet there is a left hand drive supra near my house and ive seen an old camry here in bang as well that was lhd. Maybe i miss my car back in the states too much...

[sajo]

A few months ago,me and Ram saw a white LHD ML320 at his workplace. THe car still had its original Detroit plates. So are LHD imports allowed in case of TR scheme?

@V-16 : 8 times the foreign exchange saved over many years or the year after the purchase?

[nitrous]

A few months ago,me and Ram saw a white LHD ML320 at his workplace. THe car still had its original Detroit plates. So are LHD imports allowed in case of TR scheme?

It seems to be a temporary import in which case it wud go back to its habitat after a certain period of time.