also ups and fedex is a little more forgiving ...it depends on your luck
Actually thats not very accurate;
DHL, Fedex, etc will for sure charge you duty on behalf of the government, based on the declared value. If youre lucky the customs people wont take a look at the product, but if not, they'll look at it and put whatever duty they deem fit. Once I was chraged 16k on customs that should have cost me around 10k, but whos to argue with our mahan bharat customs officers.
But yes, with the bigger couriers you will have to pay duty no matter what based on declared value, and also a service fee to the courier company (which is usually quite small, sub 500rs).
EMS,
I dont think I would ever get delicate or expensive stuff via EMS! EMS is pure schise via the local postal service of either countries. *facepalm* But if youre getting smaller things, parts which wont break easily and if you have *drum rolls* patience, then EMS is ok.
Depending on what you are buying, I have found its often cheaper to take a flight to the US and bring stuff back rather than buy it here or risk shipping. The s800 I just bought, the quotes I got were almost 4L in India and I got it for under just under 3 in the US and walked it in, finito! A cheaper alternative is dxb or bkk. Lemme know if you need details