India’s inflows: mysteriously massive

India has tallied $12.5bn in foreign inflows so far this year, according to the Securities and Exchanges Board of India – more, at this point in the year, than any year but one of the last ten. That’s a rare bright spot.

But it raises a couple of important questions, addressed in recent analyst notes: when the economic picture is so bleak, why is that money pouring in? And who is doing the pouring?

The answer may just be that oldest of Indian pastimes: black money.