India Inc Gets into Top Gear in Anti-Corruption Drive

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Infy, Wipro, Godrej, Bajaj & Genpact join global alliance floated by WEF
VIKAS DHOOT NEW DELHI


Some of India’s best-known companies have joined a global business coalition against corruption in a rare and timely demonstration of their commitment to fight graft. The move by Infosys, Wipro, Godrej Industries, Genpact and Bajaj Auto could put the spotlight on corporate India’s role in bribery at a time corruption and rent-seeking dominate the national discourse and an anti-corruption fight sits uppermost on the minds of many Indians.
By joining the anti-corruption initiative of the World Economic Forum (WEF), the firms have pledged to stamp out bribery in their organisations and across supply chains, joining the likes of multinational firms such as ABB, Siemens and Rio Tinto in the coalition. “This is a crucial part of our quiver of weapons to fight corruption — to convince corporations to do their bit about the menace rather than just wait for government actions,” said Piers Cumberlege, senior director & head of partnership at the WEF.
“If businesses mitigate corrupt practices in B2B (business to business) transactions, they can help create the right environment to clean up the problem at the B2G (business to government) level as well,” he said. Setting Ethical Standards
While these five companies become early movers towards spawning a corporate culture free of kickbacks and bribes, the idea is fast gaining traction across India Inc.
Some 30 other Indian companies have registered to discuss concrete actions which they can take to curb graft in their businesses under the WEF’s Partnering Against Corruption Initiative (PACI) at its annual India conference that got underway on Tuesday. The WEF is most famous for organising an annual gathering of some of the world’s top political and business leaders at Davos in Switzerland.
One of five global institutional initiatives on top of WEF’s agenda, the anti-graft partnership focuses on setting ethical standards for businesses to deal with the common risk factor they face: systemic corruption. Becoming a PACI signatory involves a pledge to mitigate graft risks in business operations and inter-corporate transactions.
As most of the Indian companies signing up for PACI have a large global presence as stalwarts in their respective sectors, the WEF’s anti-graft initiative has gained traction among other local firms, including smaller players in their supply chains. Cumberlege attributed this to the ‘role model’ effect.
“The number of PACI signatories going up is a very positive development and signals a paradigm shift among Indian corporates,” said Sushant Rao, senior director and head of Asia at WEF. “Till two years ago, just one Indian firm had signed up,” he said.
Corruption has become the top political issue in India in the past couple of years. Some politicians have been jailed and recent weeks have seen the names of several political figures and companies being dragged though the mud by anti-corruption campaigner Arvind Kejriwal. Last year, the country dropped 11 places to rank 95th in Transparency International’s Corruption Index. The global anti-graft watchdog compiles an annual list of countries based on their ranking on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 representing the most corrupt and 10 the most clean. India’s score on the scale was 3.1, better than Pakistan or Bangladesh but behind China and Sri Lanka.