India

People

Human trafficking is a major problem in South Asia, with India playing a significant role in the multi-scaled and well-networked structure at the transnational and domestic levels. Women and children are often trafficked for sexual exploitation and forced labour, while men from Nepal and Bangladesh are also trafficked for forced labour. Police corruption exacerbates this criminal market, with some officers accepting bribes to release victims back into the custody of traffickers. Debt bondage is a common tactic used by traffickers to lure unemployed workers into forced labour in various industries.

Recent political conflicts in neighbouring countries have led to an increase in incidents of human smuggling, particularly involving those seeking refuge from Myanmar. West Bengal’s porous borders with Nepal and Bangladesh have made it a hotspot for human trafficking and smuggling. Irregular migration is a well-entrenched business in other parts of India, such as Punjab, with a focus on meeting local demands for emigration overseas. Human smugglers, who are also working as money changers in the region, often solicit large sums of money to facilitate irregular migration into India by exploiting the weak border controls.

Extortion and protection racketeering are prevalent in cities across India. However, there is a lack of ethnographic research on the subject, as the mafia-style groups’ connections with political figures who control law enforcement agencies make it difficult for journalists and scholars to investigate. A recent arrest of an organized criminal gang boss for collecting hafta (extortion money) from bars and restaurants in Mumbai illustrated how extortion lies at the intersection of commerce, police, politicians, and criminal groups in the city.

Trade

India serves as a source, transit, and destination country for the illegal arms trade, which operates at transnational and domestic levels. Delhi is a crucial transit point for guns being trafficked from central and eastern states to Punjab and Haryana in the north. However, arms factories have mushroomed around the national capital, and arms dealers based in Meerut, Aligarh, and other cities in western Uttar Pradesh are now the primary suppliers of illicit firearms demanded by criminals in the National Capital Region. This has resulted in a growing acceptance of gun culture in different states, a rise in violent crimes involving guns, and increased insecurity because of the easy availability of illegal weapons. The illegal arms trade has a complementary relationship with the narcotics trade in north-east India, where insurgent groups either produce drugs to smuggle or tax drug traffickers in exchange for protected passage for their illicit trade. The tax money is then used to purchase arms and weapons from abroad.

Counterfeit goods are a significant problem in India, with widespread economic, health, and safety consequences across various sectors such as consumer goods, food and beverages, medical equipment, and electronics. The issue has been exacerbated in recent years by uncertified actors from neighbouring countries trying to set up a base in India. The most common counterfeit products found in India include cosmetic products, textiles, and pharmaceutical products, as well as pirated books and videos. These products are easily accessible in local markets in the country.

The illicit trade in excise goods, especially tobacco products, is another prevalent market in India, resulting in major public health risks and loss of tax revenue. Illicitly brewed alcohol is a large market in India, with almost half of all liquor consumed in the country coming from an illicit source. In states with partial or calibrated prohibition, the demand for illicit liquor is not as high, but its consumption results in a large number of deaths in various pockets of the country.

Environment

Flora crimes in India involve the illegal harvesting and trade of medicinal plants and non-timber forest produce, which perpetuate a cycle of debt and illegal collection among local and tribal communities. The demand for medicinal plants used in medical treatments, aromatherapy, and cosmetics has grown in Jammu and Kashmir, making this region a hotspot for smugglers. There have also been more incidents of state-backed tree felling in Kerala’s ecologically fragile Wayanad district. This was caused by the misuse of government orders allowing felling of protected rosewood and teak trees on revenue land that had been allotted to farmers.

The illegal trade of wildlife is a considerable issue in India, as the country is a source for illegally poached animal products that are trafficked to destination countries along land routes. Wildlife species and products commonly smuggled out of India include tiger and leopard skins, rhino horn, ivory, turtles and tortoises, seahorses, snake venom, and caged birds. The city of Nagpur and Eastern Madhya Pradesh province are critical areas in the wildlife trade, and the Maharashtra and Karnataka regions are particularly vulnerable to poaching. Concerns have also been raised about ivory craftspeople in the Hooghly district of West Bengal, pointing to a trend of India being increasingly interlinked with international fauna trafficking networks. Nevertheless, India has strong laws to deal with wildlife trafficking and conservation projects for certain species, which has resulted in a significant rise in the tiger and rhino populations in the country.

Organized crime related to non-renewable resources, such as gold and sand, is widespread in India. The COVID-19 pandemic initially slowed down illegal shipments of gold, but smuggling to India continued with a shift to overland routes running through Myanmar. The resumption of economic activity led to a continuation of gold smuggling, with hundreds of tonnes per year leaving the country. The nexus between contractors, politicians, trade union leaders, local officials, corrupt policemen, and revenue officials controls the sand market in different states. India is also a prime hub for the smuggling of gold originating from conflicts in Africa and South America. The hawala system is often used to finance the trade of illicit gold between the United Arab Emirates and India. Because of a lack of employment opportunities and poverty in the state of Jharkhand, the region has become a hotbed for illegal coal mining. The illegal coal mining business is run by the coal mafia and is highly systematic and airtight.

Drugs

India is located between two large opium-cultivation regions to its west and east, namely the Golden Crescent (Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran) and the Golden Triangle (Myanmar, Thailand, and Laos), making it a major centre for the transit, trafficking and consumption of opium derivates, often linked to shipments of drugs sold on major dark web markets. Recently, the sea corridor has emerged as a new smuggling route for drugs, while Gujarat’s largest spice market has become a land transit point. India itself cultivates opium, but despite government precautions, diversion from the legal to the illegal market is probably taking place. However, most of the heroin entering the market originates from Afghanistan, transited through Pakistan. Additionally, India is also affected by the opioid epidemic, with millions of people using this drug. Heroin trafficking is a growing concern, with reports suggesting that Pakistani traffickers are exploring new routes to send heroin to India along the Sindh and Gujarat coastlines, with the destination being Indian Punjab.

India is a destination country for cocaine trafficking, but the cocaine market is smaller than other drug markets in the country. Historically, cocaine is smuggled into the country by criminal actors from African states, but recently cocaine has been sourced from other destinations, such as Afghanistan and several countries in South America. A new trend is drug syndicates’ use of cryptocurrencies and the dark web; these are predominantly African smugglers based in India. The end destinations for cocaine on the domestic front are, upper-class and urban areas in New Delhi and Mumbai. Meanwhile, cannabis plays a central role in India’s illicit drug trade, with Odisha emerging as a major centre for drug trafficking, particularly of cannabis grown in areas previously affected by the Maoist insurgency. Discussions around the legalization of cannabis have led to the legalization of cannabis cultivation for medicinal and industrial purposes in the state of Madhya Pradesh. However, its cultivation and trade remain partially restricted in other states like Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

India is also a source and transit point for synthetic drugs, with domestic use mostly confined to urban areas. The country is believed to be a secondary source of precursor chemicals, from where shipments pass to the Golden Triangle in South East Asia. India is frequently listed as a destination for drugs traded on the dark web, and pharmaceutical companies are vulnerable to the diversion of their products for narcotics trafficking. Intermittent seizures of yaba tablets indicate that there are multiple exit points along the border in the Indian states of Tripura, Assam, and Meghalaya. Ephedrine and pseudoephedrine are reportedly trafficked across the border with Myanmar, with reverse trafficking of methamphetamine back into India.

Cyber Crimes

India is among the top three countries most affected by ransomware attacks, with the majority of companies experiencing at least one ransom attack, and almost half suffering from multiple attacks. The financial, education, and public sectors have been hardest hit. The increased internet penetration rates as well as the growing use of cryptocurrencies have made individuals vulnerable to cyber-dependent crimes in recent years.

Financial Crimes

India is experiencing a surge in financial crimes, especially in major cities like Delhi, Mumbai, and Chennai. Economic offences, identity theft, and cyber-enabled financial crime have escalated, with the city of Bengaluru having the highest rate of cybercrime. The COVID-19 pandemic has provided ample opportunities for cybercriminals because of the shift to online transactions, with scammers targeting vulnerable victims such as the elderly, homemakers, and children who have little knowledge of internet security or banking procedures. More than half of the Indian adult population has been affected by cyber-enabled financial crime, with unauthorized access to accounts and identity theft being the most common types of attacks. Predatory lending through the use of illegal loan apps is also pervasive in the country.

Criminal Actors

Criminal networks are prevalent in a variety of criminal markets in the country, including illegal sand mining, drug trafficking, trade in counterfeit goods, and smuggling of excise goods. The risk of local crime gangs that engage in fraud, violence, and extortion in India increased after the COVID-19 pandemic and has become a notable concern in the country. The role of state-level actors in organized crime varies depending on the market. Low-level officials are often involved in activities like poaching, mining, arms trafficking, and sand mining. In the private sector, mainly the real estate sector is active, with a builder mafia controlling construction and a land mafia illegally grabbing forest land. Extractive industries like mining employ private security firms, some of which commit criminal acts.

Mafia-style groups and militia insurgencies have had a considerable impact on the security and stability of certain parts of the country. These groups are involved in various criminal activities such as extortion, illicit mining, drug trade, and arms trafficking. Although state anti-insurgency operations have helped to reduce violence, there remains a substantial level of violence in some areas. These groups often use violence to sway the outcome of elections by targeting politicians from parties that are not in their favour. To tackle these activities, the government has implemented measures such as cracking down on the illegal coal trade and arresting the groups’ supporters. Foreign actors, particularly from West Africa, dominate India’s drug trafficking market, with some involvement from Pakistani nationals. There has been a rise in criminal activity by foreign actors.

Leadership and governance

The line between organized crime and politics have been blurred in India with increasing numbers of criminal actors being involved in politics and participating in local and national elections, as Indian law does not prohibit people with pending criminal cases from entering elections. The high costs of running elections also increase the risk of politicians turning to illicit funding. Furthermore, the country’s majoritarian politics has come under criticism from local activists and human rights organizations. Corruption is rampant at lower levels of the government, judiciary, and bureaucracy, but it goes unreported and unpunished, and authorities are allegedly selective in enforcing appropriate measures. So far, the impact of the anti-corruption agency has not been felt because of its lethargic functioning. Additionally, regulations on public information, transparency, and accountability have blanket exceptions that apply to intelligence and security organizations, and private entities that perform a public function are also not obliged to conform to them.

At a policy level, India has long focused on international cooperation to offset its limited domestic and regional capacities for building a regime against terrorism and cross-border crime. In this respect, India has been cooperating with Western countries in extradition processes and assistance with investigations abroad. Recently, India signed a treaty with Belgium on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters. In terms of national policies and laws, India has several initiatives and strategies against organized crime, but it lacks a federal law related to it, compelling some states to implement their own legislation to bridge the gap. The lack of federal legislation means that Indian policing is reactionary rather than preventative, which leads to heavy caseloads for criminal investigators, and a slow and backlogged judiciary.

Criminal justice and security

The independence of the judicial system is guaranteed under the Indian Constitution with an aim to provide judges with impartiality. However, the independence of India’s judiciary has been challenged in recent years through the interference of the executive branch. The appointment of a retired chief justice to the upper house of Parliament, along with several pro-government decisions by the Supreme Court, suggests a closer alignment between the judicial leadership and the ruling party. In addition, a shortage of judicial resources, including a lack of judges and vacancies, has led to a backlog of millions of cases. This affects marginalized communities disproportionately and leads to overcrowded prisons with subhuman living conditions.

India has the lowest number of police officers per capita of of the world’s major economies, and there is a deficit in personnel at the intelligence bureau, despite internal security concerns ranging from Maoist violence to religious extremism and organized crime. Police brutality and human rights violations by law enforcement officials have also continued to be a major issue in the country. India has a long-standing border dispute with China, and tensions and flare-ups across the India-Pakistan border are common. Despite this, India has been able to maintain its territorial integrity since its independence. Security arrangements to counter cross-border crime, however, are inadequate, with border control forces sometimes functioning in collusion with transnational crime syndicates and turning a blind eye to smuggling and trafficking.

Economic and financial environment

India is at significant risk of money laundering and terrorist financing, as money laundering is only punishable if connected with a predicate crime. The government has taken steps to strengthen financial surveillance and compliance. Although the number of registered money laundering cases and the attachment of laundered assets are increasing, the disposal rate by the courts remains low. Additionally, a large amount of the money invested in India is suspected to be laundered previously by having been taken out of the country.

India’s economic regulatory environment has improved over recent years, but these improvements will have to compete with domestic protectionist impulses. Despite intermittent reforms, the business environment in India has not seen tangible improvements. The country faces difficulties in enforcing contracts and registering property, and has a low-quality land administration system. Economic crimes are prevalent in Jaipur, Lucknow, and Patna, with Delhi and Mumbai having the highest number of economic offences, including criminal breach of trust, criminal misappropriation of properties, forgery, and fraud.

Civil society and social protection

India does not have a specific law for witness and victim protection. The Ministry of Home Affairs created a witness protection scheme, but that has yet to be implemented at the grassroots level. Victims can receive compensation under the law, which provides for institutionalized payment by the state for any loss or injury caused by the offender. Nevertheless, the implementation of government-mandated compensations has encountered delays, and deficiencies persist in victim protection services overall. The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has suggested treating people caught with small amounts of drugs and their families as victims, and providing compulsory rehabilitation and treatment instead of jail time and penalties.

India continues to lack an overarching prevention strategy against organized crime, except for broad preventative provisions set forth under its Code of Criminal Procedure. Prevention initiatives against organized crime are fragmented and vary by state. However, there are some anti-trafficking awareness campaigns implemented in different states. Despite the enactment of the Whistle Blowers Protection Act, it is not yet fully operationalized.

Violence against journalists is a significant issue in India. This includes police violence, attacks by Maoist fighters, and reprisals by criminal groups or corrupt politicians. Sedition law and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act have been used to charge and imprison journalists reporting on corruption cases. India has a vibrant civil society with more than 3 million civil society organizations working on various roles such as delivering services to excluded groups, promoting human rights, and exercising accountability over government actions. However, the Indian government has recently placed restrictions on funding and official registration of NGOs as part of general efforts to strengthen state authority As a result, thousands of NGOs in the country had to cease their operations due to the cancellation of their international funding licences. These recent efforts are seen as the government’s attempt to curtail the activities of NGOs to stifle dissent and whoever is trying to hold the government accountable. Some NGOs have raised issues, such as the prevalence of the sand mafia in Mumbai, despite the curtailment of their activities.