ABSTRACT

In the 2013 Transparency International Global Corruption Barometer, individual and household respondents stated that within in the last 12 months 48% were bribed utilities services. These bribes are most often paid for the most basic of services such as the provision of electricity or clean water. Recent multi-billion dollar scandals such as the mis-selling of telecoms licenses, the fixing of government appointments and the alleged corrupt purchase of defense equipment/helicopters would indicate that corporate corruption has escalated to reach epic proportions. These days, bribery is in many cases norm rather than evil. Bribery seeps in slowly into the culture of an organization. There should be transparency at all levels in organizations to reduce corruption The tone at the top is extremely important to ensure awareness and compliance with anti-bribery and corruption issues. Serious action on reported instances of bribery and corruption and wide publicity of such actions across organizations are other effective deterrents.

Although the representatives of companies state that they do not support corruption, they have hidden mechanisms to support corrupt practices. It is important that ethical leadership is practiced as a virtue if the private sector is to show the way. Automation of all procedures or processes involving interface with the Government is the ideal it needs to focus on. Doing away with person-to-person interface (to the extent feasible), especially for approvals, services, licenses, etc., would greatly reduce the scope for corruption. Training and monitoring are essential if an organization wishes to feel properly protected. This may seem burdensome, expensive and time-consuming, but with public opinion expressing outrage at India’s high corruption levels and government initiatives to encourage disclosure and expedite prosecution, companies should be aware that the corruption landscape in India is changing anINTd ensure that their anti-corruption procedures have been tightened up accordingly