Journal of Positive School Psychology http://journalppw.

com
2022, Vol. 6, No. 4, 3549 – 3553

WHITE COLLAR CRIMES IN INDIA: A SET BACK FOR

PROGRESSIVE NATION BUILDING

1Harkunwarjot singh makkar, 2Ankit Paul Kuar

1
Student of School of Law at Lovely Professional University, Punjab
2
Assistant professor of School of Law at Lovely Professional University, Punjab

Abstract
Presently the increasing rate of white-collar crimes in India has induced a massive impact on the
economic wellbeing of the country. In India, bank frauds, evasion of tax and economic threats have
been considered for hindering the economic infrastructure of the country. On this note, the government
of India must take essential actions in order to reduce the rate of increasing number of white-collar
crimes in India. However, through analysing the prior studies it has been anticipated that white collar
crime is riskier to the economy of a country compared to ordinary crime. On this note, it has been
detected that white collar crime can put the employees in danger through providing an unsafe operation
condition. However, in this research study a secondary qualitative method of data collection has been
employed to gather and interpret information regarding the purpose of the study. Apart from that,
thematic analysis has been incorporated to outline the key findings of the study. However, the findings
of the study have highlighted that white collar crime has induced a massive impact in resisting the
economic growth of India. In addition to that, corruption is another major factor that has significantly
enhanced the rate white crime. Despite the fact white collar crime hinders the economic infrastructure
of a country, it has also accounted for imposing a massive burden on the society due to bribery and
cybercrime.

Keywords: White Collar crime, India, Bank Fraud, Bribery, Cybercrime, economy, socio economic,
Tax evasion.

INTRODUCTION “white collar crime”, its impact upon the

economy of India and the main reason behind
The “white collar crimes” generally comprise the increasing rate of this type of crime will be
securities fraud, corporate fraud, money discussed.
laundering including embezzlement. In addition
to this, the white-collar crime can be considered Research objectives
as the nonviolent-based wrongdoing that most
probably financially reinforces its perpetrators. The aim of this research study is to measure the
On this note, the aforementioned crime could impact of white-collar crime in the economy of
comprise wage theft, bribery, insider trading, India. However, in accordance with the aim of
fraud, Ponzi schemes, money labour the study the researcher has developed some
racketeering, and identity theft including research objectives that will assist the researcher
forgery. It can also be stated that the white-collar to achieve the expected outcome of the study.
crime mostly overlaps with this corporate crime The objective of the research study is:
and in order to bring India’s economic • To explore the significance of white-
infrastructure on the right track it is necessary to collar crime in resisting the economic
diminish the increasing rate of this kind of development of India
crime. In this study, a brief discussion about
Harkunwarjot singh makkar 3550

• To detect the root of the causes that have industrialization. In the wake of evolution, there
influenced the increasing rate of white-collar has been tremendous loss in the Indian economy
crime in India due to some loopholes in the internal system that
has given a path regarding the enhancement of
• To investigate the way the increasing white-collar crimes. It poses a remarkable loss
rate of white-collar crime can be reduced in towards the Indian economy as the loss of
India finance cost included in these white-collar
• To detect the role of government in crimes is numerous times more considerable
minimizing the rate of white-collar crime in than several other ordinary crimes that have
India taken together. The white-collar crime not just
put an impact upon a country’s financial status
or else it also can put a pessimistic impact upon
Indian society. The several patterns of crimes
Literature Review
mainly as money laundering, corruption along
Impact of white-collar crimes on economy of with bribery has caused a massive affect upon
India the society in a pessimistic way. In turn, several
employees suffer financially along with that buy
Several experts have agreed that the impact of less products and services. In addition to this,
white-collar crime upon the economy is more business organizations that have been the major
expensive than the other types of ordinary crime. victim of this white-collar crime might suffer
This specific crime can be able to endanger severe losses and they must also declare them as
several employees by unsafe conditions of bankruptcy. On the other hand, their creditors
working, injure customers due to dangerous never get paid, co-workers lose their precious
products including that might also be able to jobs along with those investors generally lose
cause pollution related issues for this their own money.
community. These particular crimes are
recognized as more severe towards society than The main reasons behind the increasing rate of
any other patterns of ordinary that are happening white-collar crimes
every day . As in white collar crimes, the losses
The basic perception is that these types of crimes
of finance are much loftier including that it also
are happening due to greed or else economic
can cause major damage to public morals. It
instability. However, these crimes are also
generally threatens the economic infrastructure
increasingly occurring due to circumstantial
of India through economic thefts, banking frauds
pressure or else the inherent attributes of getting
along with tax evasion and many others.
much more than several others. Therefore, it can
On the other hand, it not just puts an impact upon be stated that behind the occurrence of this
the financial condition of a country or else a pattern of crime there can be numerous reasons
human being; however, it also has a pessimistic and in India nowadays the white-collar crimes
effect upon the society. The several patterns of are continuously increasing . Lack of
crimes such as corruption, bribery, along with consciousness of several people can be one of
money laundering all have put an impact upon the major reasons behind the occurrence of
the society in a pessimistic way. The above- white-collar crime. The nature of white-collar
mentioned crime has created a major hindrance crime is unique from the other traditional crimes
in building progressive nation along with better including that the public rarely understand that
economic infrastructure. White collar crimes are though these public are the worst sufferers of
mainly referring to those patterns of crimes that this crime.
are associated with several persons of higher
On the contrary, necessity might be another
social status . The prominent position of
attribute of committing these crimes and the
offender’s that provides better opportunity
public are committing the crimes in terms of
regarding such patterns of crimes through
satisfying their own ego or else to help their
committing a breach of liability endowed on
family. Human beings from the higher status
them.
have enough financial support, however; still
In this context, they have crucially ushered at an those higher-class people commit these types of
enhancing rate including the advent of crimes at the time they are out of greed. On the
technological advancements along with other hand, white collar crime generally happens
3551 Journal of Positive School Psychology

due to the craving to beat their rivals along with different types of treatments towards the white-
that to do better than them. In order to gain collar lawbreakers and trial courts mainly in
success better than their rivals, white collar India sometimes lose to realize the gravity of
crimes such as bribery, forgery along with these types of crimes.
frauds have continuously been committed. In
addition to that, another cause behind the Gap of the research study
occurrence of white-collar crimes might be the Lack of primary and numeric information is one
technological reasons. Few of the public justify of the major gaps of this research study. Apart
themselves by committing these crimes as they from that, the prior researchers have not induced
generally feel that the regulations of the an essential overview regarding the purpose of
government do not have a clear understanding this research study. In addition to that, the
about the practical issues of competing in the impact of white-collar crime in the economy of
independent enterprise system. India has not been addressed in a succinct
The role of Government in reducing the manner. As a result, it has restricted the
increasing rate of white-collar crime in India researcher to gain sufficient and reliable data
that would have assisted the researcher to
There has been enough prevalence regarding achieve the expected outcome of this research
white collar crimes over a specific time frame in study.
India and it is spreading just as a rapid fire in
several environments of society. However,
corruption can be considered as the main species Methods and materials
of this type of crime and it has always been the
most talked about conflicts in several One of the most important aspects of any
environments- economic, social along with research study, materials and techniques has a
political and it can also be illustrated that not any direct influence on the study's conclusion. Aside
effective actions have been undertaken to curb from that, the researcher has decided to use a
this jeopardy . The Indian Government needs to secondary way of data collecting in order to
perk up particular governance along with acquire and analyze data from secondary
undertaking stringent measures against such sources of information. A secondary qualitative
kinds of offenders. In addition to this, the private technique was used to gather this data, and the
sectors need to implement necessary measures researcher used papers published within the
in order to prevent the fraud including previous five years as a source of data. Apart
concentrating upon the ethics in order to curb from that, the sources have been obtained from
them. peer reviewed journals, articles, websites,
ProQuest and Google Scholar. On the other
On this note, both sectors need to collaborate hand, thematic analysis has been selected for
with each other to reduce risks of frauds in India this study as the researcher has interpreted the
regarding the improvement of them including collected information through generating
their nation. Few of the legislations have been themes regarding the purpose of this research
taken in order to mitigate the increasing cases of study.
white-collar crimes cases in India. The
government has created several patterns of
legislation in order to critically identify these
Result
types of crimes . The legislations are Companies
Act, 1960, Prevention of corruption Act, 1988, White collar crime in India
IT Act, 2005, Commodities Act, 1955 along
with that Prevention of money laundering Act, The phrase "white-collar crime" has not yet been
2002 and all these legislations contain a critical used in Indian criminal laws. On the other hand,
punishment for these crimes. The white-collar the term of white collar crime is not new in
crimes can be considered as the vital crimes that criminal jurisprudence of India. It has been used
can harm the entire economic infrastructure of in its popular sense for a variety of crimes, such
the economy. The Indian Government needs to as corporate criminality and environmental
be more careful regarding the occurrence of crimes by corporations, occupational or
these crimes as it has the ability to destroy the profession-related crimes, tax-evasion crimes,
whole economy. Courts are mainly utilizing and IPR crimes since its inception. In addition to
Harkunwarjot singh makkar 3552

that, progress in technology and science has "disparity" in sentencing comparable or

helped create "mass society," which has a vast identical offenses. The recent decriminalization
working class and an elite ruling class . This has of corporate crimes under the Companies Act,
led to the formation of monopolies, an elite 2013 is one such example, and tax laws and
managerial class, and complex institutional consumer lawsuits are appropriate instances to
structures. Ethical behavior must be strictly further investigate the aforementioned issue, as
adhered to in order for the new social, political, well as monetary penalties . Despite the fact that
and economic systems to run smoothly. In several special statutes, such as the ones listed
addition to that, white-collar and economic above, have provisions for imprisonment, the
offenses are on the rise due to a lack of majority of them are boilable and
understanding of this requirement by all compoundable.
segments of society, making enforcement of
laws that are not properly deterrent more Outcome of the study
difficult. It is more risky to commit this sort of In accordance with the findings of the research
crime, not only because the money losses are study it has been anticipated that the increasing
greater, but also because the public's morals are rate of white-collar crime has imposed a massive
irreparably damaged . Law Commission of India impact on the Indian economy. On the other
proposed in 1966 that certain social and hand, due to economic uncertainty and
economic offences be added to the Indian Penal corruption the development of India has also
Code. been restricted. Apart from that, due to the
Proposal to incorporate some social and inclusion of white-collar crime the corporate
economic crimes in Indian Penal Code" was sectors of India are facing issues on its
included in the 29th law commission report of capitalization due to lack of investment on the
India. White-collar crime has been a major focus capital market. Moreover, the inclusion of
of the Santhanam Committee's report, according white-collar crimes also threatens the economy
to the law commission's findings. In order to be of India by imposing bank frauds, economic
clear, the Santhanam Committee did not use the thefts and evasion of tax. In addition to that, it
phrase "white-collar crime" as a synonym for or also has a significant impact on society, as
substitute for "economic crimes". Instead of various crimes such as bribery, money
include "white-collar crimes," the Law laundering and corruption have affected the
Commission of India decided to use the term wellbeing of society.
"economic crimes". In its final report, the law
panel addressed a number of concerns pertaining
to so-called "white collar crime." In Sutherland's Recommendation
view, white-collar crime is defined as a crime
• The government of India is
committed by a person of high social status in
incorporating several acts such as Income tax
the course of their employment.The term
1961, IT act, 2005 and Prevention of money
"white-collar crime" was used to describe
laundering act, 2002 in order to minimize the
crimes committed with the assistance of the
risk of white-collar crimes.
accuser’s office, calling, profession, or vocation.
However, the term excluded crimes like murder, • Despite the implication of these laws the
adultery, and intoxication, even when white-collar crimes in India are still enhancing
committed by someone of high repute and social in India up to a significant manner.
status, because they had nothing to do with their
profession. The severity of sanctions imposed • Prior researchers have also commented
for economic and corporate offenses in India that the government of a country can easily
varies widely. Anecdotal evidence is used here, reduce the increasing rate of white collar crime
although definite numbers or instances are not through the inception of effective law and
possible due to the lack of official scientific legislations .
investigations in this area. IPC penalties are not • The inception of effective taxation
need to be reproduced here, but it is sufficient to system can also reduce the rate of tax evasion
grasp that the variety of punishments and judges' which can easily support a country to sabotage
discretion to pick, and further, to quantify, is on
the increasing rate of white collar crime.
the high side, which leads to "unjust" or
3553 Journal of Positive School Psychology

• The government of India needs to be [7] Sehgal, Rakesh Kumar, and R. L. Koul.
more effective in sabotaging the threat of white- "Mitigating White Collar Crimes: A
collar crimes to improve the development phase Governance Reform Agenda." Facets of
of India. Corporate Governance and Corporate
Social Responsibility in India. Springer,
Singapore, 2021. 33-47.
Conclusion [8] Sharma, Sarita K. "Sentencing Policy in
White Collar Crime in India." Supremo
Currently, India's economic well-being has been Amicus 27 (2021): 437.
adversely affected by an increase in white-collar [9] Wall‐Parker, April. "Measuring white
crime. Economic risks in India have been collar crime." The Handbook of White‐
attributed to bank frauds, tax evasion, and Collar Crime (2019): 32-44.
economic dangers in the country's infrastructure.
White-collar crime has been shown to be more
costly to the economy than other forms of
criminal activity, according to a number of
academics. In addition to affecting a country's or
a person's financial situation, it also has a
negative influence on society. Corruption,
bribery, and money laundering are just a few of
the crimes that have weighed heavily on society.
However, according to findings of the study it
can be simply concluded that white collar crime
has highly disrupted the evolution phase of
India.

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