The box is not the obstacle. A boxed 43-inch television runs to about 117 inches of length plus girth, and USPS caps its India-bound parcel products at 79 inches combined — read from the Postal Service's own country listing on 2026-08-19. The number that actually decides whether the set clears customs is a value ceiling, not a tape measure: 50,000 Indian rupees on consumer electronics for personal use, per person, per shipment. SMKlog prices the domestic leg to a forwarder; the leg that crosses the border goes through freight review.
The run to a forwarder prices like any other parcel. The border crossing is a different job, priced by a person.
A 43-inch TV in its original factory carton, 45 × 28 × 8 in and 35 lb, quoted from Berkeley Heights, NJ 07922 to a forwarder ZIP near JFK, 11430, on 2026-08-19. This is the leg SMKlog actually prices; everything past this ZIP code is a different job.
| Carrier and service | Price | Estimated transit |
|---|---|---|
| UPS Ground | $47.96 | 1 business day |
| UPS Ground Saver | $48.87 | 3 business days |
| FedEx SmartPost | $55.43 | 1 business day |
| UPS 3 Day Select | $57.35 | 1 business day |
| UPS 2nd Day Air | $75.29 | 1 business day |
USPS did not return a rate for this box on this lane and day. UPS Ground was cheapest at $47.96, and every service on the table quoted next-day or near-next-day delivery, which is what a short domestic hop to a New York-area forwarder looks like regardless of where the box goes after that.
USPS's Individual Country Listing for India, read 2026-08-19, sets a value ceiling on consumer electronics rather than singling out televisions by name: “Consumer electronic items… Shipments of consumer electronics imported by one person at any one time and for personal use shall not exceed a Cost Insurance and Freight (CIF) value of 50,000 Indian rupees,” with hearing aids and life-saving equipment excluded from the cap. The same listing puts the general rate of import duty at 30 percent, “but many articles are liable to a higher rate,” and states that an import license is required for anything beyond personal use worth more than 100 rupees.
A 50,000 rupee ceiling covers the whole category of consumer electronics for one person's personal shipment at one time. A TV sent alone is judged the same as a TV sent alongside a phone or a laptop in the same box — the values are added together, not counted per item.
The listing states that duty applies whether the goods are purchased or received as a free gift, and that being old, second-hand or for personal use does not by itself earn an exemption. A used television headed to family does not skip the 30 percent rate on that basis alone.
50,000 rupees is a moving target in dollar terms as the exchange rate moves. Convert on the day of shipment rather than relying on a figure from an earlier check, and remember CIF value includes the cost of the set plus insurance and freight, not just the sale price.
Even a television that clears the value ceiling still has to fit through whichever service carries it. USPS's country listing for India, read 2026-08-19, sets Priority Mail International at a 44 lb weight limit, 42 inches of maximum length, and 79 inches of length plus girth combined; Priority Mail Express International raises the weight to 70 lb and the maximum length to 36 inches, but holds the same 79-inch combined limit.
| Measurement | This TV carton | Priority Mail Intl to India | Priority Mail Express Intl to India |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weight | 35 lb | 44 lb ceiling | 70 lb ceiling |
| Length + girth | 117 in | 79 in ceiling | 79 in ceiling |
The weight clears both products with room to spare. The combined-dimension figure does not: 117 inches against a 79-inch ceiling on either postal product, by close to 40 inches. That gap is why a boxed flat-screen television usually leaves the postal network entirely and travels with a forwarder or courier that prices oversized freight on its own terms, rather than under either Priority Mail product.
This checkout sells domestic parcel labels inside the United States. Nothing here produces an India label, and the domestic quote above is not a price for the border crossing.
The run from your address to a US-based forwarder or consolidator is an ordinary domestic parcel. The calculator prices that in a couple of minutes from two ZIP codes, as shown above.
The leg that actually leaves the country, along with the customs paperwork and the value declaration, is quoted by a person through freight review, not by this page.
The Census Bureau's Schedule B, in Chapter 85, “Electrical Machinery and Equipment and Parts Thereof; Sound Recorders and Reproducers, Television Image and Sound Recorders and Reproducers, and Parts and Accessories of Such Articles,” places television reception apparatus under heading 8528. Read 2026-08-19.
Country conditions, value ceilings and rupee thresholds are amended without notice. Treat the figures above as what those pages stated on the date shown, and re-read the country listing on the day the box actually ships.
The domestic leg, from your address to a freight forwarder or consolidator, is an ordinary parcel and prices the same way any boxed television does. The leg that actually crosses the border is not sold on this site as a checkout price; send it through freight review and a person prices it against the destination's own rules.
USPS's Individual Country Listing for India states that consumer electronics shipments imported by one person at any one time for personal use must stay within a Cost Insurance and Freight value of 50,000 Indian rupees, with hearing aids and life-saving equipment excluded from that ceiling. A mid-size or large flat-screen television can sit close to or over that figure depending on its price and the exchange rate on the day, so check the current conversion before assuming a set stays under it.
Often not. USPS caps Priority Mail International to India at 44 lb and 79 inches of length plus girth, and Priority Mail Express International at 70 lb with the same 79-inch combined limit. A 43-inch TV in its original factory carton, roughly 45 x 28 x 8 inches, works out to about 117 inches of length plus girth on its own, well past either ceiling. That size is exactly why a boxed television usually moves through a forwarder rather than straight through the postal network.
USPS's country listing for India states the general rate of import duty at 30 percent, with many articles liable to a higher rate, and that duty applies even to items sent as a gift. There is no television-specific rate published on that listing; the destination's customs authority sets the figure that actually applies on entry.
No. SMKlog's calculator prices United States domestic parcels between two ZIP codes, which covers the run from your address to a forwarder or consolidator. The leg that leaves the country is priced by a person through freight review, because customs, the destination carrier and the value ceiling all sit outside what a domestic parcel API can see.