India and the whiff of stifling corruption

It is rather galling for India to receive news of its declining global corruption index rankings just two days before, a rather transparent vote-on-account was presented by our punctilious Finance Minister. Coming as the rankings did, just the day after Parliament opened for the budget session, didn’t quite matter, because these days there isn’t very much that passes for acrimonious debate in either of the worthy houses that reign over us, theoretically. On the resounding, lack of debate, more later.

Far worse than the inappropriate timing is the ignominy of being equated not once, but for two consecutive years with a tiny pinprick of an island nation, called The Maldives, with whom we are having a rather public spat at the moment. In 2022 we were ranked at 85 with The Maldives and this year we ended up a tad bit lower at 93 but once again joined at the hip as it were with The Maldives. If this doesn’t sound fishy, what does is the question we would be well within our right to ask. 

Speaking of the fishy pong that this decline in ranks is raising, it’s worth asking: who exactly is doing these rankings? At the moment, given our Vishwaguru self-image, keep in mind that India is quite loathed to take any attempt to browbeat us into submission of any kind. It is rather annoying that the rankings magically appeared in the same week that we had sent a former Chief Minister of Bihar back to the investigating agency to be questioned for nine hours in one day, and when the process of dragging another Chief Minister while still in office into jail was underway. 

Transparency International, which issues these global firmans, is a 30-year-old organisation that its founder Peter Eigen (a former World Banker) says was created to ensure that “People should be conscious that they can change a corrupt system”. Now surely, they know that India is headed into general elections in just a few months, and our highly politically-conscious citizens are clearly aware that their rights include the ability to throw out any regime that they feel is overwhelmingly, corrupt. 

Do these rankings really matter? While the jury is out on whether this one does, there is no doubt that in the absence of any other means of measuring transparency and equity in governmental processes, there’s little else, by way of independent bellwether indices that companies, family offices, investment funds, shareholders or even global banks can rely on. In a cruel twist of fortune, therefore, Transparency International seems to be the only thermometer that can plunge deep into the flesh of nations to figure out whether wary global investors are likely to be singed by the heat of corruption or not. Because the mother ship, based in Berlin, has been able to get funding from diverse and multiple sources, and because it bases its controversy-raising rankings on the work of small and compact individual country units, they’ve earned a reasonable level of credibility so far. 

The marginal and non-ascribable slip-up in rankings, this year, may not be hugely consequential for today’s India, which currently is the cynosure of global investors looking for returns, and is headed for heady 7 per cent GDP growth rates next year. They are not able to get these, from either the moribund European markets, the troubled and tense Asian markets, and traditionally low-return US markets. So, for the moment, don’t expect any jerky reactions from investors who recognise that marginal changes don’t matter as long as they are not based on anything that they can either see or hear from their sources. 

Irrelevant as they may be, it is worth looking for just a few minutes at the usual reasons why countries fall in ranking on Transparency International’s charts. Given that it’s public sector corruption, that these indices try and capture. Questionable propriety in public processes and regulatory mechanisms that seek to throttle either free speech or threaten fundamental rights, are also taken into account when these rankings are finalised. 

A grim reminder of how slippery a slope these rankings can be, is possibly one reason for the United Kingdom’s rank having declined in recent years was ascribed to persistent lobbying scandals, and visible instances of public office being used for private gain. When The Netherlands fell from public grace and dropped its high-ranking spot, was it that there was public awareness of judges and public prosecutors being threatened by organised crime groups? No prizes for guessing what our Achilles heel could be, but if you’re astute you’d have spotted it by now. 

Surely, as our nation goes to an election, it is worth sparing a moment to recognise that the world is watching and that every effort both in letter and law to ensure that corruption is kept severely in check matters for the future. This is not just about attracting more investments, or even our global quest for a respectable profile. It’s about, ensuring that tomorrow’s citizens inherit a world that we have voted for, consciously for where their freedoms are not stymied by the whiff of stifling corruption.

Dilip Cherian, founding partner of Perfect Relations, is a public affairs consultant and branding strategist. X: @DILIPtheCHERIAN

(Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH).