SME Times is powered by   
Search News
Just in:   • Adani Group to invest Rs 57,575 crore in Odisha  • 'Dollar Distancing' finally happening? Time for India to pitch Rupee as credible alternative: SBI Ecowrap  • 49% Indian startups now from tier 2, 3 cities: Jitendra Singh  • 'India ranks 3rd in global startup ecosystem & number of unicorns'  • LinkedIn lays off entire global events marketing team: Report 
Last updated: 26 Nov, 2015  

Corruption.9.Thmb.jpg India among worst in corporate fraud, shows survey

fraud-corruption2014.jpg
   Top Stories
» 49% Indian startups now from tier 2, 3 cities: Jitendra Singh
» 'India ranks 3rd in global startup ecosystem & number of unicorns'
» Tripura exported over 9K tonnes of pineapples in 2 years
» CPI inflation eases to 6.71% in July, IIP falls to 12.3%
» Rupee depreciates 12 paise to close at 79.64 against US dollar
Arun Kumar | 26 Nov, 2015
India has one of the highest percentages of companies where fraud, in particular corruption and bribery, was detected, according to a new survey of large local and multinational companies across industries worldwide.

Conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit and commissioned by New York-based risk consultancy firm Kroll Inc., the survey asked around 770 senior executives if they had discovered any fraud in their companies in 2014.

Around three-quarters of the executives surveyed said they encountered fraud, including corruption, bribery and stealing of proprietary information among other things, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The problem is even worse in emerging countries like India, where 80 percent of the respondents said they'd come across fraud in their firm.

India was more prone to some types of fraud than any other country. For instance, the survey found that Indian respondents were most likely to report encountering corruption and bribery, regulatory breaches, money laundering and theft of intellectual property.

Globally, 11 percent of all executives surveyed said they discovered cases of in-house corruption and bribery, while 25 percent of respondents from India said they came across such types of fraud in the past year, according to the report.

In comparison, only around 18 percent of Chinese executives and 20 percent of Russians said they encountered corruption and bribery.

One reason India's numbers appear higher than some of its emerging market peers might be because more and more Indian companies have in recent years started reporting and confronting corrupt practices, the Wall Street Journal said.

Even so, fraud in India remains a growing problem, both for Indian companies and investors, the Journal said, citing Reshmi Khurana, head of South Asia for Kroll.

Part of the problem is that accounting standards and financial regulations are not strictly implemented.

Auditing of firm balance sheets, for instance, is supposed to be independent but is sometimes carried out by auditors who are too close to the company's management.

In addition, the standards for corporate governance within Indian companies are broadly low, according to Khurana as cited by the Journal.

Besides bribery to government officials, one key issue for companies in India is executives taking bribes to give a big order to a vendor, or to hire someone, Khurana was quoted as saying.

According to the fraud report, India's record on lack of compliance with regulations is also the worst among the countries surveyed.

A fifth of respondents from India said they had found instances of regulatory or compliance breach, compared to a global average of 12 percent.

India, though, appears slightly better compared to the global average on a handful of matrices, including the theft of physical assets.

While 22 percent of respondents globally reported such theft, only 17.5 percent of respondents from India said they had come across it.
 
Print the Page Add to Favorite
 
Share this on :
 

Please comment on this story:
 
Subject :
Message:
(Maximum 1500 characters)  Characters left 1500
Your name:
 

 
  Customs Exchange Rates
Currency Import Export
US Dollar
66.20
64.50
UK Pound
87.50
84.65
Euro
78.25
75.65
Japanese Yen 58.85 56.85
As on 13 Aug, 2022
  Daily Poll
PM Modi's recent US visit to redefine India-US bilateral relations
 Yes
 No
 Can't say
  Commented Stories
» GIC Re's revenue from obligatory cession threatened(1)
 
 
About Us  |   Advertise with Us  
  Useful Links  |   Terms and Conditions  |   Disclaimer  |   Contact Us  
Follow Us : Facebook Twitter