What cannot be shipped from India to the USA by air?

Anything classed as dangerous goods for air transport is refused, whoever the sender is. In practice that means aerosols and pressurised cans, most perfumes and nail products, flammable liquids including many oils sold as fuels or solvents, lighters and matches, and loose lithium batteries shipped on their own.

These rules come from air transport safety regulation rather than from customs, so they apply on every carrier and cannot be worked around by declaring the parcel differently. Aerosols are the most common surprise, because deodorants, dry shampoos, hair sprays and spray paints all fall in the same category. Perfume and nail polish are refused for the same reason, alcohol and solvent content, which is why a fragrance that is freely sold in an Indian shop still cannot be flown to you as a personal parcel.

Batteries are a category of their own. A device with its battery installed is usually acceptable within limits, while loose spare lithium cells shipped by themselves are not. Beyond the air rules, the destination country has its own list: the United States restricts or prohibits a range of plant and animal products, certain seeds, and anything requiring an agency approval the sender does not hold. Those two lists overlap but are not the same, and a parcel has to clear both.

Aalacart applies the restrictions before you can order rather than after. Restricted categories are held out of the catalogue, so the usual experience is that you never see the item rather than that an order is cancelled later. Fresh and short shelf life food is excluded outright. Where a category is available in a shelf-stable factory-packed form, such as ghee and pickles, it ships on a separate service and is stated on the listing.

Related questions

Why was my perfume order refused when a shop in India sells it?

Selling it domestically and flying it internationally are governed by different rules. Alcohol-based fragrance is a dangerous good in air transport, so the restriction is with the aircraft, not the product.

Can I ship food from India to the USA?

Some of it, and only in shelf-stable factory-packed form. Fresh sweets, dairy, and anything with a shelf life measured in days are excluded. Aalacart lists a narrow range of long shelf life items such as ghee and pickles and nothing perishable.

What happens if a restricted item slips through?

It is held or destroyed in transit, and on an Aalacart order we refund you in full. You are never asked to deal with the carrier yourself.