MONEY LAUNDERING – THE IMPACT IN THE INDIAN ECONOMY

Abstract

Money laundering is the illegal process of making large amounts of money generated by a criminal activity, may it be a terrorist funding or drug trafficking, making it appear to have sprang from a legitimate source. It is considered as a dirty money and the launders by all their efforts would project such transactions to be genuine and clear. This is predominantly committed uniformly by both the while collar and other miscreants.  Online platforms and other crypto currencies are being used as the mode for movement of the funds by the criminals in a way by which it never gets detected. In India, emergence of the Hawala transactions which are treated as the core part of laundering, has been witnessed to be capturing its momentum in the last thirty years time.  Top business officials, politicians and other bureaucrats, in combination or individually are found to be very active in carrying out the hawala deals and contributing highly towards creating a parallel economy.  Over and above the mentioned teams, the agents of these transactions a taking a crucial role in ensuring that such transactions never misses the track.   Hence, in many ways the money laundering activities are aiming towards generating the black and illegal money abnormally.    Many business segments got affected adversely due to such dirty transactions and are invariably creating a threat to the sustainability of a descent economy. Many scams and cases booked in India in the past substantiates the depth of the penetration of laundering in the economy. Though there are so many regulations enacted in the country to counter such criminal efforts, the results of such laws in the system need a closer look.