Household & Personal Moves to India

For many families moving from the UAE to India, this is not a move to somewhere new — it is a move back to somewhere familiar. A home in Bandra or Banjara Hills or Edappally being re-established after a decade abroad. The household contents carry that history, and the move deserves to be handled accordingly: methodically, carefully, and by someone who understands that a container of belongings is not just freight, and that a returning resident has a specific status under Indian customs law that needs to be invoked correctly.

Our household and personal relocation on the UAE–India corridor is built for both move types that run on this route: NRI and PIO families returning to India after years overseas, and families relocating to India for the first time. The logistics overlap; the customs picture differs, and that distinction shapes everything from packing decisions to the choice of port.

Transfer of Residence: the most important thing to establish first

If you have been resident outside India for at least two years and intend to return for permanent settlement, your used personal and household effects may qualify for import under India’s Transfer of Residence (TR / TOR) scheme. Under the Baggage Rules 2016 and the Customs Tariff Act, qualifying returning residents may bring in used household goods — furniture, used appliances, kitchen equipment, books, personal effects — at significantly reduced or zero customs duty. Higher-value items such as a fridge-freezer or air-conditioner have specific entitlement rules, and the goods must arrive within a defined window of the resident’s return to qualify.

The benefit only attaches if the shipment is structured around the rules from the outset: the documentation has to reflect the resident’s eligibility, the inventory has to match the entitlement categories, and the items have to be demonstrably used rather than new. We carry out a TR eligibility assessment on every returning-resident move on this corridor and prepare the documentation that travels with the consignment to Indian customs at Nhava Sheva, Mundra, Chennai or Cochin. There is also a parallel question for many NRIs returning permanently: the conversion of NRE / FCNR accounts to RFC under FEMA, which is not something we handle but which sits alongside the household move in the wider planning picture, and we will flag it.

Cities, neighbourhoods and schools

We move households to all of India’s main cities and onward to tier-two destinations:

• Mumbai and Maharashtra — sea via Nhava Sheva (JNPT); delivery to Bandra, Powai, Andheri, Worli and onward to Pune (Koregaon Park, Kalyani Nagar) and Nashik
• Delhi, NCR and the north — sea via Mundra or Nhava Sheva with road inland to Gurugram, Noida, Faridabad; air via Indira Gandhi International for tight timelines
• Bengaluru — sea via Chennai or Cochin with road; delivery to Whitefield, Indiranagar, Koramangala, Sarjapur and the Hebbal corridor
• Chennai — direct sea via Chennai port or Krishnapatnam; delivery into OMR, Adyar, Anna Nagar and the broader Tamil Nadu coast
• Kochi, Kerala and surrounds — direct sea via Cochin port; one of the busiest returning-resident sub-corridors anywhere, with delivery routinely into Ernakulam, Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode and onward
• Hyderabad — sea via Krishnapatnam or Chennai with road; delivery into HITEC City, Banjara Hills, Jubilee Hills, Gachibowli

School enrolment is a question that tends to surface mid-move. The Indian academic year typically runs June to April, and CBSE, ICSE, IGCSE and IB curricula are all widely available in the cities above. Families relocating from a UAE British- or American-curriculum school into an Indian school often plan the move to land in May or June so the child starts the academic year with their new cohort rather than mid-term.

What we move

How your household move runs

1. Survey and establish TR eligibility. We assess your UAE home, confirm whether you meet the two-year overseas residence test, and shape the documentation around your TR status from day one.
2. Pack and inventory. Our crew packs to export standard and logs every item. The inventory serves both your own records and Indian customs at the port of entry.
3. Ship. Sea freight from Jebel Ali to Nhava Sheva, Mundra, Chennai or Cochin for the main household; an air parcel for essentials if you need them ahead of the container.
4. Clear and deliver. Indian customs clearance through our CHA at the port of entry, then last-mile delivery and unpacking at your Indian address.

If you are returning home after years abroad, let us make sure the logistics match the significance of the move. Request your quote and tell us where in India you are headed.