India continues to be placed poorly on the corruption scale - ranked 72 among 180 countries this year, international watchdog agency on governance.
NEW DELHI: India is perceived to be marginally less corrupt, but still not a great place to do business. This is revealed in two separate reports published on Wednesday – one by Transparency International and the other by the World Bank and its private sector lending arm IFC (International Finance Corporation).
The Transparency International’s annual Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2007 shows a marginal improvement in the perceived levels of corruption in India for the third year in running. India has registered an integrity score of 3.5 on a scale of maximum 10 against 3.3 in 2006, 2.9 in 2005 and 2.8 in 2004.
The World Bank-IFC report, on the other hand, said that India has become a better place for entrepreneurs to get a loan, but at the same time the overall process to start a business has become tougher in the last one year. ‘Doing Business 2008’ report said India has moved up 12 positions in terms of ease of business, but is still ranked in the bottom half at 120th.
“The enactment of the Right to Information Act, the Supreme Court’s ruling making it mandatory for candidates running in elections to declare their assets and more active role played by the civil society and media are among the positive factors contributing to the steady improvement in India’s integrity index”, Transparency International India chairman RH Tahiliani told DNA.
But as octogenarian freedom fighter Brigade Shambhu Dutt Sharma pointed out, India has a long way to go. “It’s like sweeping a staircase clean. You must start at the top”, Sharma said. Assocham president VN Dhoot said the improvement in India’s integrity index, though marginal, should positively impact doing business, especially if the country makes further progress in that direction.
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