As India celebrates yet another Republic Day, here?s a sobering thought for policymakers. Seventy seven percent of bribes demanded by the country?s official machinery are sought from citizens seeking delivery of services that they are entitled to. These bribes are demanded for functions as basic as getting a telephone line installed, obtaining customs clearances and ensuring payments for jobs already rendered.
By contrast, such bribes constitute only 54% of the inveiglements demanded by officials in India?s chief competitor?China. These are the findings of a study conducted by the Business Registry for International Bribery and Extortion (BRIBEline) over 16 months from July 2007 to October 2008. BRIBEline is an anonymous online reporting tool that collects data on bribe solicitations.
As many as 91% of bribe demands in India were made by government officials, with central government officials (33%) and the police department (30%) accounting for a bulk of the demands. While China has an equally high 85% of bribe demands coming from officials, the police demands comes to only 11%.
Specifically, ministry officials seeking bribes at the central level were led by the customs department (13%), while taxation and water department officials follow closely with 9% of bribe demands each. Kickbacks were also sought by officials affiliated with the justice system, immigration, mines, construction, defence, health services, energy, forestry, information and land.
Nearly 92% inducements were sought in the form of ?cash or cash equivalent?. However, unlike China, where ?sexual favours? and ?additional business? accounted for 7% of kickback requests, India reported no such demands.
The Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index for 2008 ranked India at 85, several notches below China, which was ranked 72. Pakistan is ranked much lower at 134.