About Corruption in India
Corruption is an issue that adversely affects India’s economy of central, state and local government agencies. Not only has it held the economy back from reaching new heights, but rampant corruption has stunted the country’s development. A study conducted by Transparency International in 2005 recorded that more than 92% of Indians had at some point or another paid a bribe to a public official to get a job done. In a study conducted in 2008, Transparency International reported that about 50% of Indians had first hand experience of paying bribes or using contacts to get services performed by public offices.
Transparency International’s 2017 Corruption Perception Index ranks the country 81st place out of 180 countries.
The causes of corruption in India include excessive regulations, complicated tax and licensing systems, numerous government departments with opaque bureaucracy and discretionary powers, monopoly of government controlled institutions on certain goods and services delivery, and the lack of transparent laws and processes.
There are significant variations in the level of corruption and in the government’s efforts to reduce corruption across different areas of India.
A 2011 KPMG study reports India’s real estate, telecommunications and government-run social development projects as the three top sectors plagued by corruption. The study found India’s defence, the information technology industry and energy sectors to be the most competitive and least corruption prone sectors
The Need for Voice Against Corruption
Country’s Loss of Credibility
In a study on Bribery and Corruption in India conducted in 2013 by global professional services firm Ernst & Young (EY), a majority of the survey respondents from PE firms said that a company operating in a sector which is perceived as highly corrupt may lose ground when it comes to fair valuation of its business, as investors bargain hard and factor in the cost of corruption at the time of transaction.
According to a report by KPMG, “high-level corruption and scams are now threatening to derail the country’s its credibility and its economic boom”.
Huge Economic loss
Corruption may lead to further bureaucratic delay and inefficiency if corrupted bureaucrats introduce red tape in order to extort more bribes. Such inadequacies in institutional efficiency could affect growth indirectly by lowering the private marginal product of capital and investment rate.
Bureaucratic inefficiency also affects growth directly through misallocation of investments in the economy. Additionally, corruption results in lower economic growth for a given level of income.
Lower corruption, higher growth rates
If corruption levels in India were reduced to levels in developed economies such as Singapore or the United Kingdom, India’s GDP growth rate could increase at a higher rate annually.
So it is the duty of every citizen to raise the voice against corruption and we, at, Human Rights and Anti Corruption Force is very vocal in this aspect and we are engaged in educating the need to raise the voice against corruption.