Paswan to speak on illicit trade being a national security threat

New Delhi : Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Minister Ram Vilas Paswan will address the inaugural session of the second edition of the international conference on ‘Illicit Trade- Threat To National Security and Economy’ on Friday.

The event is being jointly hosted by FICCI and the Business Action to Stop Counterfeiting and Piracy (BASCAP) at The Lalit here.

Najib Shah, Chairman, Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC); Dr. Jyotsna Suri, Immediate Past President FICCI; Mr. Anil Rajput, Chairman, FICCI CASCADE will also address the session.

A FICCI- Grant Thornton study titled ‘Emerging Challenges To Legitimate Business In The Borderless World’ will also be released by the minister.

A recent FICCI CASCADE report has estimated that on account of illicit trade in select seven manufacturing related sectors, the total loss of revenue to the government was Rs. 39,239 crores in 2014.

The conference will, therefore, deliberate on the issue of illicit trade and find out ways and means to mitigate this challenge.

The conference is also aimed to design tangible solutions to countering illicit trade in strategic markets. (ANI)