Customs in India

Why is going to customs and immigration always so shady? I went through customs a couple hours ago with two laptops - one company issued and one client issued. Immediately I was pulled aside and questioned about the laptop situation. I explained to the customs agent that I was in India for business and both laptops were company issued laptops and I needed them for work. She begins to explain that I need to pay the duties for the second laptop. I am by no means an expert on assessing duties and customs regulations but I was under the impression that you don't pay duties on things that belong to you i.e. you brought into the country to use and you will take with you when you leave. So I relay this understanding to the customs agent and she does the Indian head nod thing that I am not sure if means yes or no and continues to reiterate that I need to pay the duties on the 2nd laptop. Customs is customs and I believe in abiding by the rules of the country you are in (I feel myself wanting to launch into a tirade about Lara Ling, but I will refrain), so I say ok and ask her how much I owe. She pauses for a few seconds and asks how much the laptops were purchased for. I of course don't know since I didn't purchase either of these laptops- I tell her they are about 2 years old so maybe they are worth $800 USD a piece. She busts out the calculator to determine how much I owe, which floored me because I thought Indian people, especially Indian people from India were supposed to be really awesome at math and spelling. But in any case, she says I owe $180. I say sure, I mean not a big deal for me because I am going to charge this in, these are not even my laptops. I do however ask her to give me a copy of the policy that says the duties are assessed on laptops that are to be used for business. She looks at me for a second and tells me don't worry she'll give me a receipt. A receipt is great, but I still want a copy of some policy, because the last thing I need right now is an audit of my expenses. Without really acknowledging my request she turns and starts flipping through a book at her desk. At this point I am not really sure what is going on or what she is doing, but she has my passport so I just continue to wait. After a few minutes she leaves, still with passport in hand. She comes back with another book and says she has the policy- but doesn't really make any attempt to let me see it. I ask to read it and she hands it to me, the page is talking about laptops and duties and things that are related to the situation I am in, in the fact that the document talks about laptops and fees, but not really describing any situation close to the one I am in. As I am reading- not really making much sense of this book and starting to not really care and wanting to just give her $180 so I can leave- she suddenly says "You are really going to leave with both laptops, right?" I say "Yes, they belong to [insert name of company], I have to take them back with me." This brings on a final head nod, which I assumed meant OK because I hightailed it outta there and no one followed me.

I am not sure what the more shady part is- trying to exact these duties on my laptop for no reason or letting me go without paying them.