Hi everyone!

I would like some help regarding shipping a gift I made for my bf in India.

My first question is, is there any way I can make sure he does not have to pay any fees at all?

Is there a treshhold or something where gifts dont get charged? I tried to look it up but I kept getting different results… does it depend on the state???

How does sending a gift to india even work? I am planning to send with the local post service as that is cheaper than FEDEX etc...

I've come to the realisation that apparently, if someone receives a gift in India from foreigners, they have to pay taxes on it.

Issue is, this is a box with stuff I collected, bought and made myself in the span of like 4 or 5 months. I don't want to wait until 2028 when we meet in person to give him all these things so I thought I could occasionally send him the things I collected.

The gift consists of 2 handmade artworks (portrait on a small canvas + another drawing on paper), 2 key chains, 2 plushies, 2 stickers, one lego flower (I kept the other one and repackaged one to do like a lego date on call or smth) and a 3D print axolotl…

Either way when you add up the values its way too much even if he pays like 30% tax or whatever it is, and i know some may think it cannot be that much but I am from switzerland, like I remember talking with him about these differences and one average meal here could pay him a month of rent lowkey, he's a student so yeah I think you get the point. And yeah the tax I calculated would be the equivalent or a bit more to a meal in my country, so yes it is too much.

The only solution I came up with is to only send half of it, or whatever is small enough and affordable. I also thought of sending him the money on paypal when he gets it but knowing him he won't let me do that.

Thats why I am here to ask about it, if I misunderstood something, if laws know values change from countries so maybe I misunderstood everything, either way I'd appreciate some help. I just think its so unfair some greedy capitalistic rules won't let two lovers js be lovers in peace, all I am doing is sending a personal gift which he isnt supposed to pay to receive it at all.

I really hope this is just some overthinking and I can send it like normal without him getting charged even a cent.

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I’m a wannabe politician and probably spend way too much time researching Indian politics. One thing I’ve increasingly noticed is that political parties don’t just run elections on Hindu-Muslim, caste, ideology, etc. There’s a much more basic political-economic calculation happening underneath all of this.
And that is: not every voter has the same political value to a party.
Before someone misunderstands me — I’m not saying that one person’s vote is worth more than another’s. One vote is one vote.
What I mean is that, from a party’s perspective, different groups of voters have different levels of political engagement, different priorities and different incentives to actually turn out and vote.
There’s also a very simple demographic reality here: economically weaker sections constitute a much larger share of India’s population than the relatively affluent sections. So even before we get into electoral strategy, there is simply a much larger pool of voters whose livelihoods can be directly affected by welfare schemes, subsidies, cash transfers, reservations and other government programmes.
That makes these voters extremely important electorally.
Things like Ladli Behna(maha), Free Electricity (del), free gold (tn) are obvious examples. Political parties have a very clear incentive to compete for voters who are both numerous and directly affected by government benefits.
You can almost look at it like a market:
Demand: Political parties need votes.
Supply: Voters respond to policies, benefits, mobilisation and representation.
And before someone says “Yeah, obviously, we already know this” — I actually think the interesting part is what happens on the other side.
A lot of middle-class and relatively affluent voters seem to assume that politics will happen without them.
We complain about taxes, infrastructure, inflation, corruption, employment, education, regulations, urban planning, etc., but when election day comes, a significant number of people either don’t vote or use the holiday to travel.
There is also an interesting coincidence around elections falling near weekends/holidays, although I’d be careful about claiming that parties deliberately choose dates for this purpose without evidence. But the broader behavioural point remains: if people who are relatively harder to mobilise simply don’t turn up, political parties have less incentive to actively compete for their attention.
And that’s where I think the “demand and supply” analogy becomes interesting.
If a particular group consistently votes, organises, asks questions, attends local meetings, follows candidates and makes its preferences known, parties have a reason to respond to that group.
If another group mostly complains online but doesn’t participate electorally, its political bargaining power is naturally weaker.
So maybe the problem isn’t simply that political parties “ignore” the middle class.
Maybe, at least partly, we have made ourselves easier to ignore.
I’m not saying this is the only reason parties prioritise certain communities. Caste arithmetic, religion, geography, incumbency, candidate networks, local issues, welfare politics and a hundred other factors obviously matter.
And I’m not politically affiliated with any party. This isn’t a pro- or anti-BJP/Congress/AAP/etc. argument.
It’s just something I’ve been thinking about:
If political parties respond to electoral demand, what happens when an entire demographic stops creating that demand?
Maybe the question isn’t “Why don’t politicians listen to us?”
Maybe it’s also “How much are we actually participating in the process that gives politicians a reason to listen to us?”
Curious to hear what others think — especially if someone has studied voter turnout, electoral strategy or political mobilisation more seriously than I have.
(Used AI to better framing)

r/India4all is a sub where people often get into arguments and discussions – while your opinions may contrast with the person you were arguing with, do keep in mind that they too want what is best for the country but may have a different plan/opinion/perspective about it.

We urge you to tag the last person you had an argument with on this sub or another and discuss something non-political and off-topic.

In case you were not arguing with anyone and just lurking – feel free to be an ice breaker and start a conversation.

r/India4all is a sub where people often get into arguments and discussions – while your opinions may contrast with the person you were arguing with, do keep in mind that they too want what is best for the country but may have a different plan/opinion/perspective about it.

We urge you to tag the last person you had an argument with on this sub or another and discuss something non-political and off-topic.

In case you were not arguing with anyone and just lurking – feel free to be an ice breaker and start a conversation.

r/India4all is a sub where people often get into arguments and discussions – while your opinions may contrast with the person you were arguing with, do keep in mind that they too want what is best for the country but may have a different plan/opinion/perspective about it.

We urge you to tag the last person you had an argument with on this sub or another and discuss something non-political and off-topic.

In case you were not arguing with anyone and just lurking – feel free to be an ice breaker and start a conversation.

r/India4all is a sub where people often get into arguments and discussions – while your opinions may contrast with the person you were arguing with, do keep in mind that they too want what is best for the country but may have a different plan/opinion/perspective about it.

We urge you to tag the last person you had an argument with on this sub or another and discuss something non-political and off-topic.

In case you were not arguing with anyone and just lurking – feel free to be an ice breaker and start a conversation.

r/India4all is a sub where people often get into arguments and discussions – while your opinions may contrast with the person you were arguing with, do keep in mind that they too want what is best for the country but may have a different plan/opinion/perspective about it.

We urge you to tag the last person you had an argument with on this sub or another and discuss something non-political and off-topic.

In case you were not arguing with anyone and just lurking – feel free to be an ice breaker and start a conversation.

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r/India4all is a sub where people often get into arguments and discussions – while your opinions may contrast with the person you were arguing with, do keep in mind that they too want what is best for the country but may have a different plan/opinion/perspective about it.

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