Corruption the top risk to health of Indian businesses, says survey

It seems that the 'Achhe Din' concept of a corruption- and fraud-free India is yet to percolate down into the realm of business. Corruption, bribery and corporate frauds is the leading challenge to doing business in India, says the India Risk Survey, 2015, conducted jointly by FICCI and Pinkerton Corporate Risk Management.

The survey, which took questions from about 550 top management functionaries in companies from India and abroad, aims to catalogue the emerging risks in developing economies like India, so that they can be addressed by policymakers.

Corruption, bribery and corporate frauds was the top risk in last year's survey, too. But it was third on the risk factor list in 2013.

Information and Cyber Insecurity is the second biggest in the list of 12 major risks in the 2015 survey. This threat climbed up 3 positions from 2014.

"If one were to conduct a root-cause analysis of the major corporate frauds of recent times, a common cause that would emerge is pilferage of data/sensitive information. Information security is a growing concern keeping in mind the technological advancements and the tendency of corporate houses to create intellectual property and competitive strategies," says the report.

Other top risk factors include terrorism and insurgency, business espionage, and crime.

Terrorism and insurgency, which was ranked 10th and 7th in 2014 and 2013 respectively, has climbed to third spot this year.

"The rising threat of terror incidents in major cities has caused considerable alarm; the devastation from these incidents may have easily disrupted the entire business continuity structure of the land," the report says.