A study conducted by Nobel Peace prize winner Kailash Satyarthi's organisation has found that sex trade in India generates around ₹2 lakh crore ($343 billion) and shows no signs of abating.
Satyarthi said in the study that traffickers, brothel owners, money lenders, lawyers, judges and victims benefit to various extents from the trade, which sees between 30 to 90 lakh women trapped in the flesh trade.
Most of the victims are young girls.
The study reported by India Today is titled 'Economics behind forced labour trafficking' and was conducted by Satyarthi-led Global March Against Child Labour.
It notes that around 30 lakh women are caught in the sex trade with the numbers going further up when those employed at massage parlours and dance bars are also included, writes India Today.
Girls as young as 10 years are being sold to brothels, the report said.
A shocking revelation in the analysis was the role of immediate and close family members as traffickers.
Key source areas for trafficking of the victims are the impoverished states in India such as West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, which shows poverty and lure of employment were the key factors driving trafficking.
The report also noted that around 36 lakh children are forced into domestic labour.
