Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday, August 12, 2023, said the impact of corruption is felt most by the poor and the marginalised people.
He said corruption affects the allocation of resources, markets and diminishes the quality of life of people.
Also read: India calls upon G20 countries for faster extradition of fugitive economic offenders
Addressing virtually the G-20 anti-corruption Ministerial meeting at Kolkata the Prime Minister said, "India has a strict policy of zero tolerance against corruption."
He said Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore had cautioned us against greed as it prevents us from realising the truth.
Mr. Modi said, "We are aggressively pursuing economic offenders. We have enacted the Economic Offenders Act and have recovered assets worth over 1.8 billion dollars from economic offenders and fugitives".
At G-20, our collective efforts can significantly support the fight against corruption, Mr. Modi said.
"At the G-20 summit in 2018, I had presented 9-point agenda for action against fugitive economic offenders for asset recovery. I am pleased to note that decisive steps are being taken by your group", the Prime Minister said.
Mr. Modi said audit institutions need to be given regard in the fight against corruption.
Welfare scheme leakages have been plugged and 360 billion dollars given to people through direct transfers in India, the Prime Minister said..
