Import duty forces city NGO to send back toys

KOLKATA: The Sabera Foundation has been forced to send back eight containers of toys, meant for Kolkata’s street children, due to its inability to pay import duty.
Seven more containers, meant for the same NGO, did not leave the shores of Hong Kong at all. The 15 containers had toys valued at $300,000 for which the NGO feared it would have to pay import duty of Rs 20 lakh.
“Four containers came to the Kolkata port about two weeks ago and left without being unloaded because we could not pay the heavy duty,� said foundation communication director Patrick Ghosh. According to Ghosh, four more containers were diverted midway. “We would prefer to spend the money on developmental work, rather than pay import duty, which is why we sent back the consignment,� he added.
The Customs department is at a loss. “We have not seen this consignment and could not have valued it,� said additional commissioner Bijay Kumar.
There is apparently no record of the four containers which had reached Kolkata. “When a ship enters Indian territorial waters, an inward general manifest is filed. Re-export attracts a nominal penalty. But, if there is no record of this consignment entering India, it can have serious ramifications,� Kumar said.
Toys attract 30 per cent flat customs duty and central excise duties which works out to about 56.8 per cent, or Rs 20 lakh in this case. The consignment had toys, plastic playing buckets, drawing boards, toys of cartoon characters, diaries, lunch boxes and educational kits and these are not on the exemptions list.
“Ad hoc exemptions were admissible in the 1980s but some NGOs misused it. So now, only the ministry can decide on exemptions,� said customs chief commissioner AK Chabra. The foundation is, however, going ahead with its appeal to the finance ministry for an exemption. The Customs officers, however, have raised doubts about the quantity of toys being shipped.
The consignment was sent by American donor Stephen Berman. Sabera was set up by Spanish musician Ignacio Cano and has Hollywood big names like Penelope Cruz, Antonio Banderas, Melanie Griffith and Ricky Martin among its supporters. The foundation runs a home for about 140 orphans and children of prostitutes.