India Covid crisis: Now, expats can send loved ones oxygen concentrators as gifts

Dubai - The exemption for oxygen concentrators is allowed only till July 31.

Now, expatriates in the UAE can send oxygen concentrators to their loved ones in India, even as the country is gasping for breath amid the Covid-19 crisis.

Listen to this story and more on 8@8 with David Light

Faced with an acute shortage of oxygen, the Indian government on Friday permitted import of oxygen concentrators for personal use, through post, courier or e-commerce portals, under the gift category. The exemption for oxygen concentrators are allowed only for a period till July 31, for personal use, according to a notification of the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) published on April 30.

ALSO READ:

>> India Covid crisis: Now, drones to drop vaccines in Telangana

“The import of goods, including those purchased from e-commerce portals, through post or courier, where customs clearance is sought as gifts, is prohibited except for life-saving drugs, medicine, oxygen concentrators and rakhi (but not gifts related to rakhi - an Indian festival),” the notification explained. Oxygen concentrators were added to the list to meet the high volume of demand for oxygen in the country.

From the UAE, medical retailers have said residents can purchase the oxygenator from retail outlets or online and use shipping services to export it to India. The product is also available on e-shopping portals such as Amazon.ae, noon.com, and desertcart.ae. However, the available delivery dates are only after May 25.

Jose Sreedharan, chief operations officer, Aster Retail, Aster DM Healthcare said the demand for oxygen concentrators have rapidly increased over the past several days causing existing stocks to be depleted. “We do keep a wide range of oxygen concentrators at Aster Pharmacies, but the use of such machines is under the recommendation and supervision of a medical practitioner.”

“We are in contact with all the local distributors and international manufacturers to secure stock and make them available. We have received a very positive response and we expect to see new stock arriving in the next five to ten days. We shall be making them available online at https://asteronline.com/,” he said

ALSO READ:

>> India Covid crisis: Kerala mulls complete lockdown in high-risk districts

There are various models of oxygen concentrators which range in price from Dh3,500 to Dh6,000 for models that can deliver 5L of oxygen per hour and Dh7,000 to Dh9,000 for those capable of delivering ten litres.

Under Indian guidelines, gifts over INR1,000 (Dh50) face customs duty and integrated Goods and Service Tax (GST). While the government has suspended basic customs duty on several oxygen-related equipments till July, Integrated GST is required to be paid.