Massive Illicit Trade In Gold, Narcotics Shakes India's Economy: Report

A boom in illicit trade of gold smuggling and narcotics trafficking is revealed from the data of seizure in last financial year with 3.5 tonnes of gold, 18 crore cigarette sticks, 140 metric tonnes of red sanders and 90 tonnes of heroin seized along with other drugs by law enforcement agencies. 

A report released by FICCI CASCADE last week titled 'Hidden Streams:Linkages Between Illicit Markets, Financial Flows, Organised Crime and Terrorism', has pegged potential revenue loss of US $13 billion involving both misinvoiced imports and exports to India. 

Challenge of illicit trade looms larger than before

Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs Chairman Sanjay Kumar Agarwal said the challenge of illicit trade looms larger than before and tackling issues such as counterfeiting, smuggling and tax evasion is fundamental to safeguarding India's economic stability.

The rampant irregularities and malpractices of import invoicing had further caused financial loss of $9 billion and uncollected value-added tax (VAT) amounted to a total of $3.4 billion. 

Reason behind rise in narco trafficking

The rising narco trafficking is due to India's location near major drug-producing regions, including the Golden Triangle (Myanmar, Laos, and Thailand) and the Golden Crescent (Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran) has been associated with transportation and distribution of illicit drugs. The FICCI report states that 3,172 cases of drug seizures were recorded during 2014-2022 as against 1,257 cases in 2006-2013. with a total 4,888 arrests made with seizures involving 3.33 lakh kg of drugs worth ₹20,000 crore. 

The illegal economy in India ranks higher with a score of 6.3 than the average score of 5 of other 122 countries while scoring a lower score of 4.3 against 5.2 average for other other countries In the organised crime segment. 

The report with inputs from multiple sources and government data states that although India has fewer criminal actors but are widespread and engage in a variety of unlawful activities.