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Indian companies are against ‘facilitation payments’, but lack policies on bribes to secure business contracts, says an international survey.
The survey shows that Indian companies, like many of their international counterparts, are unprepared to meet the challenges of adhering to international anti-corruption laws, not to mention a tightening domestic regulatory framework. Meanwhile, the risks to business of prosecution, fines and reputational damage continue to grow.
Control Risks, a global risk consulting firm, and the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) conducted a survey among general counsels and compliance heads of 316 companies globally to examine their attitudes toward bribery and corruption risks.
Commenting on the survey’s findings, Toby Latta, CEO of Control Risks in Asia Pacific, said: “Corruption is one of the most significant challenges adversely affecting the Indian economy. Bribery is neither a cost-effective nor a sustainable business strategy.”
Indian companies are most concerned about operational bribes and third-party risks. They lag behind in providing anti-corruption training to their employees, having whistle-blowing mechanisms and budget dedicated to anti-corruption initiatives, it suggests.
The three countries with the largest numbers of respondents in the survey were India (45 companies), the US (44) and the UK (43).
The Indian respondents represented 19 commercial sectors, the largest being manufacturing (16 companies).
Many companies are risking their reputations by not implementing internal procedures to prevent the use of bribery by employees. Only 40 per cent of global respondents have whistle-blowing lines and this figure is much lower (24 per cent) for Indian respondents, the survey showed.
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