Shashi Tharoor fumes after cargo firm shuts down India ops citing bribery: ‘Truly dismaying’
Tharoor said that corruption was “rampant” across the system, adding that most companies comply by seeing it as “price of doing business”.
Chennai-based cargo firm Wintrack Inc announced its decision to close its logistics operations in India on Wednesday, citing harassment and bribery demands from the city's customs officials.
“From October 1, 2025, our company will cease import/export activities in India. For the past 45 days, Chennai Customs officials have relentlessly harassed us,” the firm posted on X.
Responding to the firm's allegations, Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram Shashi Tharoor called the incident “truly dismaying". Tharoor said corruption was “rampant” across the system, adding that most companies comply by seeing it as “price of doing business”.
Expressing his disapproval, Tharoor, in a post on X, said, “It doesn’t have to be this way. Indeed it must not be like this if the country is to grow and prosper.”
In its post announcing the decision to stop import/ export activities in India, Wintrack said that it had “exposed” the customs officials' “bribery practices" twice this year, following which they had retaliated. “After exposing their bribery practices twice this year, they retaliated, effectively crippling our operations and destroying our business in India. We deeply thank everyone who has supported us during these difficult times,”Wintrack said.
Wintrack alleged “repeated and unjustified harassment by offcials at customs” for the past 45 days, adding that the customs officials' retaliation had “severely impacted” their ability to conduct business.
The firm said that despite putting in their “best efforts”, the “sustained pressure” had made it “impossible” for them to continue their operations in the country.
The founder of Wintrack Inc, Prawin Ganeshan, has levelled allegations of bribery against the customs officials on X, also naming specific officials from the Special Intelligence and Investigation Branch (SIIB).
“SIIB: ASHISH NEHRA VITAL, EO: BANDI NARIAPPA AO: GYANENDRA PANDEY. These officers recieved bribe to clear my Wife's company shipment last week. Faceless Assessment Officer at Mumbai Recieved 50,000,” Ganeshan posted on X.
The firm had earlier said that they would release a detailed video on October 2, Gandhi Jayanti, addressing their issues with the customs officials since January this year. “We met top authorities from August to September; harassment increased afterward, as they aim to silence us,” Wintrack alleged.
Mohandas Pai, former CEO of Infosys and chairman of Aarin Capital, tagged Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a post regarding the firm's allegations.
“Madame @nsitharaman this is not acceptable. You have failed to stamp out systemic corruption in our ports. Please stop this. You are our FM and our PM @narendramodi had promised us corruption free rule,” Pai said, while sharing Wintrack's post on X.
