New Delhi, Sept. 17 -- A FICCI-KPMG report on illicit trade in India has flagged the economic drain and governance challenges posed by smuggling & counterfeiting, with speakers at the FICCI-CASCADE 'MASCRADE 2026' conference on Thursday highlighting how such networks exploit legitimate supply chains and digital platforms to evade detection.
Chairman of the CBIC, Vivek Chaturvedi, noted that illicit networks now operate through "entire parallel supply chains using legitimate logistics infrastructure, documentation and financial channels" to disguise their activity. He cited the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence's 3,000 commercial cases in FY 2024-25, involving roughly Rs 4,000 crore in duty and incentive amounts.
The report, released at the Movement Against Smuggled and Counterfeit Trade conference, underscores that illicit trade networks which are now "increasingly sophisticated, technology-enabled & borderless," with impact extending beyond revenue losses to undermine investment, employment, consumer safety & fair competition, said Anant Swarup, Secretary General, FICCI.
Former President Ram Nath Kovind, characterised the fight against counterfeiting as a battle to protect institutional trust. "Trust is the invisible foundation of every healthy economy. Smuggling & counterfeiting gradually erode that trust," he said, adding that the entire economic system rests on faith between consumers & manufacturers and between investors & regulators.
Outlining a collaborative framework, Chairman, FICCI CASCADE, Anil Rajput, called for unified intelligence, networked enforcement, innovation & citizen empowerment to combat what he termed a "security imperative" for nations worldwide.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.