United Arab Emirates to India
You can win the lot and still not be allowed to take it home.
Last verified: not yet published. Rates box below is incomplete.
| Money out | No exchange controls. No remittance cap, no tax at source. |
|---|---|
| At the sale | Buyer's premium plus tax. See the rates box. |
| Getting it out | The binding constraint. Some works may never leave India. |
| Getting it in | UAE customs and VAT on arrival. See the rates box. |
If you are resident in the Emirates and bidding at an Indian sale, the money side is the easy part. Nothing restricts what you can send to Mumbai. The problem is at the other end, and it is the reason this brief exists.
The constraint nobody warns you about
India restricts what art may leave the country under the Antiquities and Art Treasures Act, 1972. The Act does two separate things, and buyers confuse them constantly.
Antiquities. Broadly, objects more than one hundred years old, with a shorter threshold of seventy-five years for certain manuscripts and records of historical or scientific interest. These cannot be exported.
Art treasures. Works of art that are not antiquities, but which the Central Government has declared to be art treasures on grounds of artistic value. Only the work of a deceased artist can be declared.
Two notifications did most of the work. In December 1976, GSR 904(E) declared the paintings and objects of art of Rabindranath Tagore, Amrita Sher-Gil, Jamini Roy and Nandalal Bose to be art treasures. In August 1979, GSR 477(E) added Raja Ravi Varma, Gaganendranath Tagore, Abanindranath Tagore, Sailoz Mookerjee and Nicholas Roerich. These nine are known as the Navratnas, the nine jewels.
What is and isn't restricted
The Act does not stop you buying. It does not stop you owning. It does not stop you selling.
A resident of Dubai can bid at a Mumbai sale, win a Jamini Roy, pay for it and hold clear title. What you cannot do is put it on a plane. Export requires permission from the Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India, and for the Navratnas that permission is not a formality. Plan on the answer being no.
One exception matters. Works that were already outside India before the relevant notification took effect are not caught. A Sher-Gil that has been in a London collection since the 1960s is not affected by the 1976 notification. If you are buying Indian material at a London or New York sale, that is a different situation and a different brief.
The trap on works that aren't restricted at all
Even when you buy something with no restriction, a living artist, a work made last year, you may still need to prove it is not an antiquity before it can be exported. In practice, exporting art from India usually means producing documentation establishing the work's age. Indian auction houses handle this routinely for overseas buyers, but it takes time and it is not automatic.
Ask the house in writing before you bid: is this lot exportable, and who obtains the documentation? Do not accept a verbal assurance from the saleroom floor.
If you buy a restricted work anyway
Sometimes it is the right decision. A Navratna work at a good price is still a good work, and there is a real domestic market for it.
But be clear about what you own. Your future buyer must also be someone willing to keep the work in India. That shrinks your resale pool substantially, and it means the price you should pay is not the price an Indian resident should pay for the same lot. Bid accordingly. The restriction is a discount, not a footnote.
You will also need custody: storage, climate control, insurance and someone to check on it. Price ten years of that into the purchase before you bid, not after.
Getting the work to the Emirates
Once you have confirmed the work is exportable and the documentation is in hand, the mechanics are ordinary: crated freight, transit insurance at declared value, customs clearance in the UAE.
Two things to settle before the sale rather than after. Freight for a stretched canvas is very different from a work on paper, and crating is quoted on dimensions rather than value, so a large low-value canvas can cost more to move than a small expensive one. And your insurance should cover the work from the moment of the hammer, not from the moment it is collected.
Deadlines
Indian houses generally require registration before bidding opens, and overseas bidders are asked for identification and sometimes a deposit against high-value lots. Registration is not instant. Settlement windows are short, typically days rather than weeks. Since you have no remittance restriction this is manageable, but only if your bank knows the payment is coming.
Current rates
To confirm before this brief is published.
- Buyer's premium bands at Saffronart, AstaGuru, Pundole's and Prinseps, taken from the conditions of sale of the specific auction rather than the general terms page.
- Tax on the artwork and tax on the buyer's premium as a service. These are different rates on different bases. Source: CBIC, confirmed with a practising chartered accountant.
- UAE customs treatment of chapter 97 goods under the GCC common tariff, and UAE VAT on import. Source: Dubai Customs and the Federal Tax Authority.
Rates last checked: not yet.
Before you bid
- Ask in writing whether the lot is exportable.
- Ask who obtains the export documentation, and how long it takes.
- If the work is by one of the nine, decide whether you want an asset you can only hold and resell inside India.
- Get a freight quote on dimensions before the sale, not after.
- Confirm your insurance attaches at the hammer.