Overall crime rate in India drops 6%, Cybercrime surges past 1 lakh cases: SBI report

India is experiencing an unequal trend in criminal activity, where overall crime across the country is declining due to increased public investment, digitisation, and enhanced surveillance, meanwhile cyber-crime has risen, possibly crossing 1 lakh cases, according to a report by the State Bank of India (SBI).

The SBI report noted, "India recorded 58.86 lakh cognizable crimes in 2024, down by 6.0 per cent from the previous year, with the all-India crime rate falling from 448.3 to 418.9 per lakh population." Surprisingly, crime against women, a major crime highlight in India, has declined by 1.5 per cent from 4.48 lakh cases in 2023 to 4.41 lakh cases in 2024, the report added.

The expansion of digital systems has increased the likelihood of detecting criminal activity through tools such as UPI transactions, FASTag records and digital surveillance, thereby raising the risks associated with committing offences. Data also indicates that locations with a higher density of CCTV cameras recorded a modest decline in crime between 2022 and 2024, showing a correlation of -0.148.

Under the Smart Cities Mission, all 100 designated smart cities now have operational Integrated Command and Control Centres (ICCCs), which combine surveillance, technology and real-time data monitoring to enhance urban governance and public safety. "More than 84,000 CCTV surveillance cameras had been installed across the 100 Smart Cities, along with 1,884 emergency call boxes, 3,000 public address systems. These measures increase the perceived probability of detection," the report said.

Relationship between crime and economic growth

The report also noted that areas with greater CCTV coverage experienced a slight reduction in crime during the same period. It added that there is an interesting relationship between crime and economic growth. "Empirical literature suggests that crime can act as a drag on economic growth by raising uncertainty, increasing security and transaction costs, discouraging investment, and crowding out legal economic activity (Goulas and Zervoyianni , 2013)," it said.

It further noted that a 1 per cent fall in the IPC/BNS crime rate per lakh population is connected with around 0.11 per cent higher real GDP growth in the short run. Hence, as crime falls, society gains a growth dividend, finding that crime against women acts as a labour market friction and could lead to lower participation by females. "The broader implication is that women's safety is not only a law-and-order issue; it is also a labour market policy variable," it said.

Although reported crimes against women have declined, the reduction remains marginal compared to the scale of the problem. According to NCRB 2024 data, 1,20,227 cases involving cruelty by husbands or relatives were registered, affecting 1,21,166 victims. However, SBI Research noted that NFHS-5 data paints a much larger picture. With an estimated 27.88 crore ever-married women in the relevant age group and 24 per cent reporting physical and/or sexual spousal violence in the previous year, the estimated annual number of affected women rises to nearly 6.69 crore.