59% of Indian companies report financial fraud; procurement fraud tops concerns: PwC Survey

New Delhi [India], December 18 : A staggering 59 per cent of Indian companies experienced financial or economic fraud in the past 24 months, according to PwC's 'Global Economic Crime Survey 2024 - India Outlook.
This marks an 18 per cent increase compared to the global average of 41 per cent and a 7 per cent rise within India since the 2022 survey, PwC India highlighted.
The latest findings highlight procurement fraud as the top threat for Indian businesses, with 50 per cent of respondents identifying it as a major issue. This reflects a significant 21 per cent jump compared to global concerns. In contrast, customer fraud, which was the leading issue for 47 per cent of Indian businesses in 2022, has been overtaken.
Globally, cybercrime remains a primary concern, with 44 per cent of leaders citing it as the top threat.
Puneet Garkhel, Partner and Leader, Forensic Services, PwC India, commented, 'In our 2022 survey, customer fraud led the list, reported by 47 per cent of companies. However, this year's findings reveal a shift with procurement fraud now emerging as the primary concern."
While Indian companies are using data analytics to combat procurement fraud with 52 per cent analysing transactions pre-deal and 46 per cent post-deal, only 37 per cent employ real-time payment monitoring with the capacity to block suspicious transactions.
The survey suggests effective fraud prevention strategies including strengthening processes, revising vendor selection, enforcing conflict of interest policies, and training the staff. However, only 44 per cent of Indian respondents utilise data analytics to spot unusual bid patterns.
The survey also revealed that about 33 per cent of all economic crimes are related to corruption and bribery, while 26 per cent of the respondents in India found it to be one of the top three disruptive economic crimes in the past 24 months. About 82 per cent of respondents in India said that they were confident or very confident about their company's compliance programmes' ability to mitigate corruption risks.
On the global front, 77 per cent business leaders said that they were confident or very confident about their company's efforts in this regard, the survey added.
About 20 per cent of company leaders in India believed corrupt practices, i.e. those associated with corrupt or improper payments to government officials and/or commercial customers, had increased in the past 12 months, while 34 per cent said that corruption had decreased, the PwC India added.
PwC's survey reveals a pressing concern over forced labour across industries -- from manufacturing to fashion and from agriculture to hospitality.
In India, 16 per cent of companies are actively addressing this risk while 24 per cent evaluating it, 26 per cent are unaware of its importance within their organisation and 19 per cent recognise it but lack assessment plans, the survey added.