India among most corrupt countries 8212; Study

NEW DELHI, OCT 26: Transparency International TI India, a non-governmental peoples8217; coalition against corruption8217;, said on Tuesday that according to a study it had commissioned, India was among the most corrupt nations in the world.

India was ranked 73rd among the 99 countries covered by the study conducted by Gallup International GIA, a press note by the TI said.The study was based, among other things, on the opinions of corporations of 19 leading exporting countries perceived to be paying bribes abroad. The ranking was determined by the corruption index8217; and bribe payers8217; perception index8217;.

India had a score of 2.9 on a scale of ten to one. 8220;There has been a marginal increase in the score, from 2.63 in 1996 to 2.9 now,8221; it said.Pakistan was perceived as being more corrupt than India, though only marginally, ranking 88 with a score of 2.2.

Denmark was found to be corruption-free, scoring 10 out of 0, followed closely by Finland and New Zealand at 9.8 and 9.4.

Great Britain ranked 13th with ascore 8.6 and the United States 18th at 7.5. China was not much better off than India, being 58th on the list with a score of 3.4.