Incorrectly Declaring Indian Goods As 'Made In China' Contrary To Public Interest: Delhi High Court Denies Relief In Customs Case

The bench was dealing with a Customs case whereby Petitioner's goods (mobile tempered glass) bearing 'Made in China' mark were seized by the Department in a raid.

The Department had allowed provisional release of the goods subject to submission of assessable value i.e., Rs. 56,03,995/- bonds and bank guarantee to the tune of Rs. 29,75,189/-.

The Petitioner opposed the condition, arguing that the goods are 100% local as is evident from the fact that no purchase order was placed to any foreign entity and the Petitioner had not engaged any Customs Housing Agent or Customs broker.

On a query from the Court, the Petitioner submitted that the goods are not imported and only to give better price, labels of 'Made in China', 'Made in USA', etc. are affixed on these products.

This prompted the division bench of Justices Prathiba M. Singh and Shail Jain to observe,

“If these are locally manufactured goods but are shown as 'Made in China' or in some other foreign country, such incorrect misdeclaration even to the consumers would be contrary to overall public interest - especially, when as per the prevalent policy, 'Made in India' products are being encouraged and several incentives are being given for goods to be manufactured in India.”

Further, stating that the case calls for a factual enquiry and owing to Petitioner's failure to produce invoices of the goods, the Court refused to interfere in the matter.

Appearance: Mr. Omkar Kushwaha, Adv. for Petitioner; Mr. Shubham Tyagi, SSC, CBIC.

Case title: Sonaram Bagadaram Mali v. The Commissioner Of Custom & Ors

Case no.: W.P.(C) 13649/2025

Click here to read order