The Indian Government has started cracking down on e-commerce imports which were being sent as gifts from China in order to avoid the customs duties. Thanks to intense pressure from domestic trade unions and amid political controversy the Government of India has finally decided to block the custom clearance of such packages across all cargo ports throughout the country.

Meanwhile, Ministry of Consumer Affairs proposed allowing only those cargos which was already registered in India. The major cargo ports of

Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata which accounts for 90 percent of the cargo traffic, has stopped clearing gifts coming from China. Other ports were also notified to ensure that Chinese e-commerce vendors do not shift their port of operation.

The provisions made by the India Governmant to lower custom duties have been completely scraped. According to a report published by Economic Times, The CBIC which regulates custom duties and exports in the country was earlier planning to restrict the number of gifts an individual can receive to 3 , however, the CBIC has scrapped the entire provision altogether. The Government has finally realized that the provisions were being exploited therefore it scraped the provision completely. The Government will be bringing several policy changes to impose custom duties on gifts imported from overseas.

The report published by The Economic Times revealed that Indian registered firms Sino India E tail and Globmex were found to be guilty of helping Chinese e-commerce companies save on import duties by acting as intermediaries between e-companies and customers. Another way the e-commerce companies were dodging import duties is by bringing in goods as discounted orders for business.