What is grey market / parallel import AV gear, and what's the actual risk?

Grey market means genuine product, wrong route: a unit built by the real manufacturer but imported outside the brand's authorised India channel. The risk is not fakery. It is what happens after the box arrives.

Specifically: no official India warranty, because the serial number tells the service centre which distributor imported it, and it was not theirs. No distributor support for spares or firmware questions. Sometimes a different voltage or region variant, which on an AVR can mean a power supply built for 110 V, or a tuner and menu set meant for another market. And no recourse if it arrives damaged in transit, because the seller's accountability tends to end at the courier's door.

Can grey stock work perfectly for years? Yes, often. Can you rely on that? No, and that is the whole calculation.

I would frame it by ticket size. On a twenty thousand rupee speaker, maybe a gamble you knowingly accept; if it fails you are annoyed, not ruined. On a two lakh AVR, one out-of-warranty repair on a mainboard or HDMI board erases everything you saved, and modern receivers are not repaired with a soldering iron and goodwill. The more electronics inside the box, the worse the bet.

There is also a quieter cost. Distributors in India occasionally run firmware and service programmes for known issues. Grey units are not on that list, because officially they do not exist here.

How to spot it: a price that beats every authorised seller in the market at once is the usual sign. Legitimate margins vary a little; they do not all lose to one seller by twenty percent. When you see that, ask the five questions (authorised dealer, GST invoice, India warranty, sealed current Indian stock, who takes the call in month eight). The answer is in there, and it usually arrives as a change of subject.

We do not deal in grey stock. If a price elsewhere looks impossible, send it to us and I will tell you which of the above it probably is.