India

[Page 375]The second-largest country in the world by population and the seventh-largest by area, India also possesses one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, thanks to its 1991 economic reforms. Despite this growth, inequality between the most and least privileged is great, and poverty, illiteracy, and malnutrition are widespread. Although Indian authorities have downplayed the extent of drug trafficking in the country, the U.S. government considers the country one of the 20 major trafficking hubs. In addition, India is the source of some three-quarters of the global supply of counterfeit pharmaceuticals, and a large number of patent-violating pharmaceuticals that are sold as discounted brand-name drugs to the Western market.