If you thought corruption is on the wane in India think again! Complaints of corruption is significantly increasing with each year, if 2012 saw the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) receive 37,039 complaints of corruption then by 2014 we are seeing it increase to 64000. In fact, 2013 saw slight ebb in the corruption complaints to CVC at 35,332.
A recent report published by EY shows that corruption risk in India though on the decline is still very high and the risk will persist as long as multiple overlaps of procuring business permissions and licenses continue. The culture of gifts or entertainment spends to win or retain business is also not helping shows the report. The Transparency International Corruption Perception Index puts India at a low 80 per cent.
Though we are better than Kenya but India's "corruption perception" is higher than Russia, a country well-known for corruption in the corridors of power.
But in India's tryst with corruption what is worrying is that a high 66 per cent of people surveyed by EY believe that it is justifiable to gift, bribe or spend on entertainment to win or retain business in India. In fact, 35 per cent of people surveyed believe that their company's anti-bribery policies would harm their competitiveness in the market.
BW Reporters
With about 10 years as a journalist, Suchetana has covered a wide range of issues from the Singur agitations in Bengal in 2007 to the 2G scam and more recently the Modi government’s financial policies. Her forte is investigative reporting and reporting on tax policies of the government. Before she joined BW Businessworld as National News Editor in August, she worked with ET Now for 7 years as News Editor.
