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By Shivaji Sarkar<\/strong><\/p>\n \n Diwali is glitter. Gold, new clothes, crackers, laughter, and billions spent\u2014from homes to high streets. Houses glow, rangolis bloom, sweets fly across neighbours, diyas shimmer in rows. The goddess of wealth, Mahalakshmi, is invoked in every home, and commerce hums at full pitch.<\/p>\n But somewhere inside many offices, an envelope quietly changes hands. The lanterns light up\u2014but so do the pockets.<\/p>\n No one knows the actual size of India\u2019s Diwali gifting market. But Confederation of All India Traders\u00a0(CAIT) estimates that the Diwali gifting market hit Rs 6.05 lakh crore ($80 billion) in 2025\u2014a \u201crecord\u201d in festive spending. Other trade organisations like FICCI, CII or Assocham so far has refrained from hazarding a guess, apparently in a subdued market with people lacking jobs, reduced earning and unstable prices such figures presumed unlikely.<\/p>\n From sweets and dry fruits to imported chocolates and gold coins, gifting has evolved into a multibillion-rupee ecosystem. And fewer are buying the expensive gold, except Amul Gold, Priya Gold, Tata Gold and Britt Marie Gold.<\/p>\n Traditional mithai boxes now share space with curated hampers of wine, candles, eco-friendly trinkets, handmade products\u2014handwoven textiles, ceramics, bamboo tumblers, artisanal chocolates, reaching even rural India.<\/p>\n That\u2019s the visible Diwali. Behind the glow runs a darker ritual\u2014the exchange of \u201cfestival gifts\u201d that come with expectations. Files to be signed, tenders cleared, roads to be repaved\u2014someone has to grease the wheels.<\/p>\n No wonder India\u2019s cash economy is thriving. During 2016 demonetisation, currency circulation was about Rs 15 lakh crore; now it\u2019s over \u00b9 32 lakh crore. The new normal\u2014nicknamed suvidha shulk\u2014is what people quietly pay even for legitimate work.<\/p>\n \n \u2018100-fold rise\u2019<\/p>\n Festival gifts now come with invoices of expectation.<\/p>\n \u201cMithai, chai-pani, suvidha\u2014the sweet names of corruption.\u201d A top multinational management person, Shikha Tyagi, says, \u201cBusinesses have found a legal way to present largesse to the corrupt during Diwali. Rates have multiplied a hundredfold in a decade\u201d.<\/p>\n Much is shelled out by those who, despite decent wages, block routine work\u2014from pension payments, personal accruals to school approvals and trade licenses. Even large corporation to local shopkeeper factor in \u201cfestive facilitation expenses,\u201d wrapped in legalese.<\/p>\n It\u2019s an irony worthy of Mahalakshmi\u2014the goddess of wealth presiding over a season where illegal wealth flows most freely.<\/p>\n The malaise transcends borders. One of India\u2019s richest industrialists is indicted in the U.S. over a $265 million bribery and securities fraud scheme linked to solar contracts.<\/p>\n \n Beyond Borders<\/p>\n Over the years the US has imposed fines on a number of companies for cases of bribery in India. Cognizant was made to pay $ 25 million for a corruption in India by US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) for a reported gratification to a Chennai official.\u00a0 Such FCPA actions in India include Embraer, Anheuser-Busch, Mondelev\/Cadbury, Oracle, Tyco, Dow Chemical, Textron, Diageo for total bribes to Indians of $ 77.8 million, according to a report by law firm Foley & Lardner.<\/p>\n In Chhattisgarh, a widow was asked to pay Rs 2.8 lakh in bribes to get her pension and gratuity cleared. She fought back. The High Court refused to quash her FIR on grounds that the extorters reached a \u201ccompromise\u201d, calling it \u201ca matter of moral turpitude.\u201d<\/p>\n Recent cases show corruption\u2019s deep reach \u2014 from top brass to clerks. The NHIDCL managing director in Guwahati, Krishna Kumar, was caught taking a Rs 10 lakh bribe from a contractor for project clearance. In Punjab, DIG H.S. Bhullar\u2019s arrest exposed piles of cash, gold, and luxury watches tied to bribe demands. Even a low-level PWD supervisor routinely seeks Rs 7,000\u201330,000 to clear contractor bills \u2014 small sums that, collectively, reveal the everyday rot of the system.<\/p>\n The practice seeps into every department\u2014pensions, construction, taxation, even university NAAC grades. One foreign road contractor, unable to recover dues, reportedly ended his life in a legendary case.<\/p>\n Now picture the season. Roads gleam, flyovers sparkle. Contractors line up with \u201cDiwali tokens.\u201d Beneath the ritual lies a parallel economy of gratitude turned gratification.<\/p>\n A veteran journalist Satish Mishra, residing in NCR-UP recalls: \u201cIt\u2019s impossible to do business without bribes. Even I had to pay during the registration of my wife\u2019s flat. The builder had fled without an NOC, and though the residents\u2019 association paid collectively, everyone knew where the money went.\u201d<\/p>\n And the scale? A 2024 Local Circles survey found 66 percent of Indian businesses paid bribes in the past year\u2014mostly to government officials (72 percent). Many said they were coerced to pay; others paid to speed up work. Cash bribes dominated (83 percent), while some came disguised as gifts or favours via agents. This year many say their payments held up before Diwali on \u201cdispute\u201d over percentage of slush to be paid.<\/p>\n Behind closed doors, software systems meet soft hands. It has made the job easier through \u201cclandestine\u201d multiple bank accounts.<\/p>\n Ahead of Diwali 2025, the Union Finance Ministry banned all government departments from using public funds for festive gifts. Several states followed. In Rajasthan, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) warned that giving or receiving expensive gifts could attract prosecution. Gujarat\u2019s ACB announced secret monitoring of Diwali gifts. In Tamil Nadu, the Directorate of Vigilance set up teams to track \u201cgifts\u201d from traders\u2014often cash-filled boxes of sweets.<\/p>\n \n Digital ghushkhori<\/p>\n Still, the festive bribe script remains unchanged. The payments are smoothened with a \u201cgift\u201d\u2014a cash-stuffed envelope or shady bank accounts.<\/p>\n \u201cGifts are culture,\u201d some argue. True\u2014but culture doesn\u2019t demand a quid pro quo. When a box of sweets comes with a silent message, \u201cRemember us when you approve the file\u201d\u2014it stops being generosity.<\/p>\n A financial magazine Moneylife defines it best: \u201cBribery includes the offer, promise, giving, demand or acceptance of an undue advantage as an inducement for an action which is illegal, unethical or a breach of trust.\u201d Cash of any amount is tucked in the gift basket. This isn\u2019t cinematic corruption; it\u2019s everyday graft. Ordinary, expected, normalized.<\/p>\n The irony is deliciously dark. We deck our doors with diyas and our hearts with generosity, but somewhere the \u201ctoken of goodwill\u201d means: \u201cHere\u2019s your gift. Do the job after puja.\u201d<\/p>\n Someone joked that Diwali has become \u201cghuskhori ka dharmik utsav\u201d\u2014the religious festival for gratification. Perhaps they weren\u2019t joking at all. Because at its core, every \u201cgift\u201d is simply a gift with strings attached.<\/p>\n And the season of lights, in the world\u2019s largest democracy, risks turning once again into the season of hush money. \u2014 INFA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Mithai, Chai-Pani To Digital Accounts By Shivaji Sarkar Diwali is glitter. Gold, new clothes, crackers, laughter, and billions spent\u2014from homes to high streets. Houses glow, rangolis bloom, sweets fly across neighbours, diyas shimmer in rows. The goddess of wealth, Mahalakshmi, is invoked in every home, and commerce hums at full pitch. But somewhere inside many […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-273165","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-features"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273165"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273165\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}