• Skip to content
  • Skip to navigation

Grant Thornton uses cookies to monitor the performance of this website and improve user experience

To find out more about cookies, what they are and how we use them, please see our privacy notice, which also provides information on how to delete cookies from your hard drive.

Global site
  • Global site
  • Algeria
  • Botswana
  • Cameroon
  • Egypt
  • Ethiopia
  • Gabon
  • Guinea
  • Kenya
  • Libya
  • Malawi
  • Mauritius
  • Morocco
  • Nigeria
  • Namibia
  • Senegal
  • South Africa
  • Togo
  • Tunisia
  • Uganda
  • Zambia
  • Zimbabwe
  • Anguilla
  • Antigua
  • Argentina
  • Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao and St. Maarten
  • Barbados
  • Bolivia
  • Brazil
  • British Virgin Islands
  • Canada LLP
  • Canada RCGT
  • Cayman Islands
  • Chile
  • Colombia
  • Costa Rica
  • Ecuador
  • El Salvador
  • Grenada
  • Guatemala
  • Honduras
  • Mexico
  • Montserrat
  • Nicaragua
  • Panama
  • Paraguay
  • Peru
  • Puerto Rico
  • St Kitts
  • St Lucia
  • St Vincent and the Grenadines
  • Trinidad & Tobago
  • United States
  • Uruguay
  • Venezuela
  • Turks & Caicos
  • Afghanistan
  • Australia
  • Bangladesh
  • Cambodia
  • China
  • Hong Kong
  • India
  • Indonesia
  • Japan
  • Korea
  • Malaysia
  • Mongolia
  • Myanmar
  • New Zealand
  • Pakistan
  • Philippines
  • Singapore
  • Taiwan
  • Thailand
  • Vietnam
  • Albania
  • Armenia
  • Austria
  • Azerbaijan
  • Belarus
  • Belgium
  • Bosnia and Herzegovina
  • Bulgaria
  • Channel Islands
  • Croatia
  • Cyprus
  • Czech Republic
  • Denmark
  • Estonia
  • Finland
  • France
  • Georgia
  • Germany
  • Gibraltar
  • Greece
  • Hungary
  • Iceland
  • Ireland
  • Isle of Man
  • Israel
  • Italy - Bernoni
  • Italy - Ria
  • Kazakhstan
  • Kosovo
  • Kyrgyzstan
  • Latvia
  • Liechtenstein
  • Lithuania
  • Luxembourg
  • Macedonia
  • Malta
  • Moldova
  • Monaco
  • Netherlands
  • Northern Ireland
  • Norway
  • Poland
  • Portugal
  • Romania
  • Russia
  • Serbia
  • Slovak Republic
  • Slovenia
  • Spain
  • Sweden
  • Switzerland
  • Tajikistan
  • Turkey
  • Ukraine
  • UK
  • Uzbekistan
  • Bahrain
  • Egypt
  • Jordan
  • Kuwait
  • Oman
  • Qatar
  • Saudi Arabia
  • United Arab Emirates
  • Yemen
  • Lebanon
Grant Thorton Logo

Grant Thornton Logo Grant Thornton logo

Contact us
  • Insights
  • Industries
  • Services
  • Events
  • Overseas Listing
  • Careers
  • L&D Academy
  • Media
  • Country corridors
  • Consumer, Retail & E-commerce
  • Healthcare and Life Sciences
  • Automotive and Manufacturing
  • Media, Technology and Entertainment
  • Not for profit
  • Real Estate and Construction
Healthcare and Life Sciences Home
Our publications BillionFit: Technology redesigning healthcare
Our report, BillionFit: Technology redesigning healthcare, navigates through key trends in disruptive technologies in healthcare, with a focus on India. This paper captures India’s Healthcare and Fitness scenario from a technology perspective, while providing some insight into the recent developments globally.
Automotive and Manufacturing Home
Thought Leadership Auto Bytes January 2020
This edition of Auto Bytes focuses on what will shape the future of the sector.
Media, Technology and Entertainment Home
Publication The Digital Accelerate – New regulatory framework implementation guide
The publication summarises the transition process mandated by TRAI for digital television services, and how consumers can select their subscriptions.
Real Estate and Construction Home
Report Improving transparency in secondary real estate market
Holistic pan-India assessment on various parameters in the secondary market & direct impact of a regularised secondary market on stakeholders.
  1. Grant Thornton Bharat
  2. Press releases
  3. 2016
  4. Online marketplaces emerge as a preferred hub for counterfeiting and smuggling activities: FICCI CASCADE – Grant Thornton report

Online marketplaces emerge as a preferred hub for counterfeiting and smuggling activities: FICCI CASCADE – Grant Thornton report

15 Jan 2016
  • Online marketplaces emerge as a preferred hub for counterfeiting and smuggling activities: FICCI CASCADE – Grant Thornton report

As perpetrators of counterfeiting and smuggling activities become sophisticated, online marketplaces are increasingly coming to be a preferred hub for illicit trade, owing to their wider reach and ease of access. In the absence of any specific e-Commerce legislation in India, there is need for a separate e-Commerce law in the country to make online shopping a safe experience for the customers, says FICCI CASCADE – Grant Thornton report: Emerging Challenges to Legitimate Business in the Borderless World which was launched today at FICCI CASCADE International Conference on Illicit trade – Threat to national security & economy.

While every industry and sector in the country is plagued by counterfeiting and smuggling problems, the presence of these activities is dominant  in FMCG packaged foods, tobacco, personal goods, mobile phones, alcoholic beverages,  etc., causing billions of losses to industry and the government. As far as the factors driving such activities are concerned, the report suggests that inadequate enforcement and lack of consumer awareness boost counterfeiting in India, while high tax differentials between neighbouring areas primarily favours escalation in smuggling activities.

“It is evident that illicit trade in India is not limited to a few cities or regions. However, there are specific areas which predominate in such activities and these are exploited as a transit point by illegal operators. In terms of the tactics, e-Commerce is the newest channel adopted by counterfeiters to effectively reach a wider audience. With online marketplaces witnessing a phenomenal growth in India, the space has also become an easy prey to fake goods,” said Vidya Rajarao, Partner, Grant Thornton India LLP.

Counterfeiting and smuggling lead to weakening of the local industries, loss of revenues in the form of duties and levies and loss of consumer’s trust on the manufacturers’ brand. It also affects the consumers as they pay higher price for an inferior product. However, one of the lesser known yet severe consequences of such activities is terror funding which directly poses a threat to the national security of countries.

The report recommends that endeavours such as increasing consumer awareness, adopting anti-counterfeit technologies, strengthening of the legal system and investing in research and development can help in combating the counterfeiting menace. It also suggests setting up a nodal governance agency which can help coordinate national efforts and intelligence against illicit trade. Another significant facet highlighted in the report is the government’s Make in India initiative which accentuates manufacturing and promoting authentic products in the country as well as stresses upon Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) as critical to innovation.

“In our country laws have been introduced that are not only compliant with our international obligations but are in many ways progressive. Moreover, given the emphasis on the current ‘Make in India’ campaign bringing in economic development and the much anticipated growth; an effort therefore needs to be made to examine how illegal trading activities can be curbed,” said A Didar Singh, Secretary General, FICCI.

Share this page
  • Facebook LinkedIn
  • Twitter Twitter
  • LinkedIn LinkedIn
  • Email Email
  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow us on LinkedIn
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Follow us on YouTube
CONNECTclose
  • Locations
  • Contact us
  • Global reach
ABOUTclose
  • About us
  • Careers
  • Press
  • Corporate Social Responsibility
LEGALclose
  • Privacy
  • Disclaimer
  • Site map

© 2021 Grant Thornton Bharat LLP – All rights reserved.

    • EN
    • Sign in
    • Contact us
    Sign in with LinkedIn Close
    Sign in with LinkedIn to save articles to your bookmarks.
    Privacy policy