At 39%, India has the highest bribery rate in Asia

India has emerged as the country with the highest bribery rate of 39% in the Asian region, according to a survey by global civil society organisation Transparency International. India also has the most number of people who use personal connections to get access to public services.

The report titled Global Corruption Barometer – Asia stated that said India has the highest overall bribery rate (39%) and the highest rate of citizens using personal connections (46%). The report is based upon the survey which was conducted between June 17 and July 17 this year in India with a sample size of 2,000.

After India, Cambodia has the second-highest bribery rate at 37%, followed by Indonesia (30%) while the Maldives and Japan maintain the lowest overall bribery rate (2%), followed by South Korea (10%) and Nepal (12%).

The report mentioned: “Bribery in public services continues to plague India. Slow and complicated bureaucratic process, unnecessary red tape and unclear regulatory frameworks force citizens to seek out alternate solutions to access basic services through networks of familiarity and petty corruption.”

Although reporting cases of corruption is critical to curbing the spread, a majority of citizens in India (63%) think that if they report corruption, they will suffer retaliation, the report highlighted this fact.

In India, 89% think government corruption is a big problem. The survey found that nearly one in five people who accessed public services, such as health care and education, paid a bribe in the preceding year.

Out of those surveyed in India, 42% paid bribes to the police, 42% used the money to procure documents, and 38% paid money for court matters. A worrying aspect of the report was that while reporting corruption, at least 63% of the participants said they feared retaliation.