[GTO]

Just read in this mornings TOI that the DRI has started cracking down on Mumbai's superbikes again. About 70 bikes already seized, multiple showrooms & dealerships raided and the search has only begun. There was a specific mention that the DRIs operations are ongoing.

Are all imported bikes brought in as parts? Aren't there any in the grey market that are imported as CBU? The reason I ask is, the pricing is surely representative of a CBU import.

P.S. Ajay Devgans bike got nailed as well.

[IronWolf]

I read this in the BLR TOI as well and logged in this afternoon just hoping none of our boy's rides were in this bunch of 70.

No raids in BLR yet. Lots of space in my basement if you guys wanna stash them there. I promise to start em all up every day / as and when you prescribe.

Keep those babies away from those guys.

[straight6]

I feel this will happen quite regularly now. That is the only way people will learn to buy clean bikes. There will be no other choice.

[nandishpal]

what is the reason for doing this?is it because of year end & money crisis?or is it done by the yamaha & suzuki officials as they lose there business by these grey market bikes?

[manson]

Originally Posted by GTO

Are all imported bikes brought in as parts? Aren't there any in the grey market that are imported as CBU? The reason I ask is, the pricing is surely representative of a CBU import.

Some observations I have made in the past, and some what I have heard through the grapevine:

Motorcycles until the late 90s are probabaly the cleanest import examples around. These came down as motorcycles with full duty paid, quite a few of these came via the Transfer of Residence though.
The next few years till about 2004-05 too the bikes came down with decent paperwork, slight modicfications in value here and there but nothing that would shake the foundation of the duty structure.

A couple of years later it seemed like almost every second (if not every single) bike was brought down in parts, assembled locally, crap registration addresses, negligible road tax, stupidly low import duties, e.t.c

The prices like you said are as high as what CBU units should be priced, but this is only because of the sky high prices Yamaha & Suzuki priced their legal imports that the gray market got a chance to price their products higher than they should have been. Had Suzuki or Yamaha priced their motorcycles competitvely, the gray market would have been downsized considerable.

Case in point: The gray market for mobile phone got cleared up once Nokia & other leading manafacturers priced their mobile phones competitively v/s the gray market.

manson.

[akshay4587]

What happens to bikes in small towns of punjab and haryana up north,there are lots of them?
any info if they can come under this scanning?

[straight6]

Originally Posted by akshay4587

What happens to bikes in small towns of punjab and haryana up north,there are lots of them?
any info if they can come under this scanning?

Sure, Why not? They probably know about all those bikes since they were mostly sold by the dealers that have been taken in.

[nandishpal]

i would like to tell that indian bike enthusiasts always wanted good bike swith time.but the bikes were not officially available because of high duty structure & no clearance from indian manufacturers as they would lose business if these companies would come directly without any murger.
a biker from approximately from the year 2000 has always bought bikes @ a very high price.as good as paying full duty.but the corrupt officials have spoilt it al.why is it cleared first of all when not legal.even if cleared why is it registered.if they want to seize let them start it from their own house as even their sons must be owning one.

[akshay4587]

Originally Posted by straight6

Sure, Why not? They probably know about all those bikes since they were mostly sold by the dealers that have been taken in.

hmmm yup since all these bikes were sourced from bombay\pune they ought to be under the scanner,if not they would be lucky.

[aadix]

Originally Posted by GTO

Are all imported bikes brought in as parts? Aren't there any in the grey market that are imported as CBU? The reason I ask is, the pricing is surely representative of a CBU import.

in hyd, from what i have seen, most of them are bought in parts, with the duties paid just on the frame, very few bikes i have seen which have come in as full bikes.

[black12rr]

Big question --> what do they do with seized bikes ? , get some share and release and the cycle repeats ,isnt it ?

[rpanicker]

Originally Posted by black12rr

Big question --> what do they do with seized bikes ? , get some share and release and the cycle repeats ,isnt it ?

If it becomes a high-profile case, in all probability the owners will need to pay the correct duty, octroi, taxes etc. as well as penalty for all these items. That's what happened in the case of imported cars and will make it unaffordable.

What is sad is that even if you're willing to pay the duty, we cannot import the latest bikes. Either you obtain an import license (which I don't think is possible for individuals) or you need to get it on TR - which means you need to have owned it abroad for 1 - 2 years!

[smart2smart]

any team bhpian's bike got seized ? any idea guys ???

[sammyboy]

Was just checking the marketplace section for motorcycles. Most of the dealer ads for Superbikes seem to have vanished suddenly. Guess its pretty serious this time.

[danlalan]

Originally Posted by rpanicker

Either you obtain an import license (which I don't think is possible for individuals)!

An import export license is possible or individuals. But its expensive and theres lots of paper work for that.