INDIA'S ECONOMIC RISE SHADOWED BY SURGE IN ILLICIT FINANCIAL FLOWS

Illicit trade flows estimated at approximately 20% of total trade in India between 2009 to 2018.

- NIVEDITA MUKHERJEE

India's rapid progress to emerging as an economic powerhouse finding its place on the high table of global financial and business discourses and deals has its cons as well. This appears perturbingly the case as per a UN estimate that when the Indian economy surpassed the USD 3 trillion mark in 2021, the quantum of money laundering in India can be estimated at USD 159 billion, about 5 per cent of the GDP. India's rising economic prospects, suggests an industry report, puts the world's fifth largest economy in a precarious position, with an impending surge in trade activities that could inadvertently foster the proliferation of illicit financial flows (IFFs). These illicit trade flows are estimated to account for approximately 20 per cent of the total trade in the country as per Global Financial Integrity (GFI) between 2009 to 2018, finds a research by the Thought Arbitrage Research Institute (TARI) for FICCI Committee Against Smuggling and Counterfeiting Activities Destroying the Economy (CASCADE).