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iPhone 12 Pro so costly in India, you can fly to Dubai to buy it and save money

indiatoday.in

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Re: iPhone 12 Pro so costly in India, you can fly to Dubai to buy it and save money

#161

Post by pradn »

Mediterraneo10 wrote: post #128
ericol wrote: post #124

Dude. Hold my beer. In Argentina, pre pandemic there were people that actually went shopping to Miami, because getting anything Apple - be it an iPhone or a laptop - was cheaper that way. The iPhone 12 is not for sale here, but let's use the iPhone 11 as an example. In the only "official" store I could find it [0], the price is 184.299 pesos (yes, 184 thousand). If you check the "official" US dolar rate [1] it is aro…

I have often heard the anecdote of Argentinians flying to North America for shopping. But why is Chile not used for these purposes? Chile doesn’t have the import-substitution policies of Argentina, and in my visits to Chile I didn't feel that the country was not significantly more expensive than the USA.

Argentinians do go to Chile to get electronics. We just hear more often about them going to the US. Perhaps more go to the US for tourism, with a side benefit of cheaper electronics.

Re: iPhone 12 Pro so costly in India, you can fly to Dubai to buy it and save money

#162

Post by muststopmyths »

hangonhn wrote: post #142
abalaji wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep! That's why you might hear of Lakhs or Crores in Indian forex contexts. 1 Lakh: 10,00,000 1 Crore: 10,00,00,000

Is there a reason for that other than just tradition/history? Sometimes when things differ from our norms, there may be a reason or an advantage that we are unaware of. Just curious. Thanks in advance!

>Is there a reason for that other than just tradition/history?

Probably not. Just like the Japanese number system (as distinct from counters for objects) where 1000/10000 are special units.

Even in English, the counting was not consistent. Isn't billion supposed to be 1 million million in the UK ?

Lots of the urban population in India is adopting US millions and billions in everyday language too, so I'm sure the global American monoculture will eventually overwhelm the local counters at some point.

Re: iPhone 12 Pro so costly in India, you can fly to Dubai to buy it and save money

#163

Post by rockyj »

Joeri wrote: post #154
rockyj wrote: post #131

A lot of people in here are saying - oh I had to do this is Germany or Denmark or USA as well. Which is fair, but what irks me is that in India which has pretty high taxation in all departments (see Petrol/Gasoline) the tax you pay gives you ZERO benefit. No healthcare, education or unemployment benefits etc. Also on top of this, due to the corrupt system, if you need anything from any govt. agency you will need to p…

Are taxes really that high compared to other countries? India has a tax to gdp ratio of 10%, compared to 25% in the US and 40% in the EU. Maybe you are underestimating just how much taxes are required to fund an effective welfare state?

I'll leave it for you to judge - https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/wealth/tax/latest-incom...

1 Lakh = 100,000 1 USD = 73 Rs.

A mid-level manager / programmer would pay around 20-25% in taxes.

Plus, Current GST (VAT) rate in India is 18% for goods and services like most countries. There are reduced rates 0%, 5% and 12% for some goods and services, and 28% luxury rate for some items.

And finally, other tariffs on things like iPhone, computer parts, cars etc.

Re: iPhone 12 Pro so costly in India, you can fly to Dubai to buy it and save money

#164

Post by ryzvonusef »

In Pakistan, to prevent this, you either can only buy a cellphone whose IMEI was registered with our regulatory authority (when it was imported via official means), or you can register a personally imported phone with absurdly excessive taxes, which makes the whole point moot.

https://dirbs.pta.gov.pk/

(btw you can only buy a SIM that's linked to our national identity card, so the sim will just not work. There is a six months grace period for foreign visitors)

This means that device options are very limited and prices are absurd. You can buy a small car for the price of an iPhone, for example. We easily pay atleast 20%-50% premium on the same device from india, despite having similar economics.

Re: iPhone 12 Pro so costly in India, you can fly to Dubai to buy it and save money

#165

Post by thiagoeh »

nkrisc wrote: post #114
ericmay wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is USAian?

It's a term people use to either be funny, or it's because they're somehow offended that people from USA use the demonym "American" even though there are other countries in the Americas, yet despite the fact that no one else in those countries seems to care because they have their own demonyms they use. The former are just having a laugh, and the latter are looking for things to be offended by. I don't know which cam…

In Brazil is usual to hear in more educated circles the denomination "estadunidense", which is essentially the same thing as USAian. Or north-americans, when talking about the culture from the standpoint of Brazilians. It's far from true that no one cares.

Re: iPhone 12 Pro so costly in India, you can fly to Dubai to buy it and save money

#166

Post by soapdog »

Many decades ago, macintosh prices were so high in Brazil that it was cheaper for me to fly to Miami for a weekend, (regretfully) watch the phantom menace, cheerfully watch the mummy, buy the damn mac, fly back, and pay duties at the airport, than it was to buy it in the country.

Re: iPhone 12 Pro so costly in India, you can fly to Dubai to buy it and save money

#167

Post by xienze »

gilrain wrote: post #102
acwan93 wrote: post #92

On a much smaller scale, this is achieved in the US by going to a no sales tax state like Oregon or Delaware. With the sales tax in Los Angeles at 10.25%, I’ve ended up queuing up large purchases together, buying a round trip ticket to Portland ($200-300) and hitting up the Apple Store, Target, Best Buy there. And get a free trip to Portland! I’ve read the Christiana Mall in Delaware is especially popular for people…

Hopefully your local civil services are not terribly affected by your dodging of taxes, in case you or someone you care about ever needs them.

Sorry but asking people to pay sales tax on something you bought out of state is just ridiculous to me. There was a transaction between me and state A, not state B. Just because I live in state B doesn’t mean they’re entitled to the sales tax. They were never a party to the transaction, they’re just of the belief that I _would have_ bought it in state B if I didn’t have the option of going to state A. This isn’t a morality issue, it’s the state government being mad that I have options to cut them out of the loop.

Re: iPhone 12 Pro so costly in India, you can fly to Dubai to buy it and save money

#168

Post by reaperducer »

nkrisc wrote: post #114
ericmay wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is USAian?

It's a term people use to either be funny, or it's because they're somehow offended that people from USA use the demonym "American" even though there are other countries in the Americas, yet despite the fact that no one else in those countries seems to care because they have their own demonyms they use. The former are just having a laugh, and the latter are looking for things to be offended by. I don't know which cam…

I don't know which camp the GP falls into but I'll be charitable and assume they're just being silly.

You are correct. I have only very rarely in my life given fig one about offending strangers.

Re: iPhone 12 Pro so costly in India, you can fly to Dubai to buy it and save money

#169

Post by sfifs »

rockyj wrote: post #131

A lot of people in here are saying - oh I had to do this is Germany or Denmark or USA as well. Which is fair, but what irks me is that in India which has pretty high taxation in all departments (see Petrol/Gasoline) the tax you pay gives you ZERO benefit. No healthcare, education or unemployment benefits etc. Also on top of this, due to the corrupt system, if you need anything from any govt. agency you will need to p…

I think what you're missing is that a vanishingly small proportion of the population actually earns enough to pay income tax and there's a breathtakingly huge number of relatively poor folks. A lot of services are massively subsidised for these folks but there's a billion of them.

The whole Indian railways network is massively subsidized but it's doubtful anyone on HN would travel by anything other than air conditioned if indeed they travel by train (eg. I've never travelled by train after i began working).

In many states, basic groceries are effectively free. The less well off folks buy from these, the "middle class" shops from private traders. However there's a massive number of the less well off.

Not saying there's no corruption, but the scale of the problem is massive.

Re: iPhone 12 Pro so costly in India, you can fly to Dubai to buy it and save money

#170

Post by sudosysgen »

rockyj wrote: post #163
Joeri wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are taxes really that high compared to other countries? India has a tax to gdp ratio of 10%, compared to 25% in the US and 40% in the EU. Maybe you are underestimating just how much taxes are required to fund an effective welfare state?

I'll leave it for you to judge - https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/wealth/tax/latest-incom... 1 Lakh = 100,000 1 USD = 73 Rs. A mid-level manager / programmer would pay around 20-25% in taxes. Plus, Current GST (VAT) rate in India is 18% for goods and services like most countries. There are reduced rates 0%, 5% and 12% for some goods and services, and 28% luxury rate for some items. And finally, other tariffs on t…

That seems fairly low given the fact that a mid-level programmer is pretty fortunate relatively
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