Introducing the Corruption Perceptions Index In fact, some countries have such a history of corruption that it has caused political unrest between the country's government and its citizens. People in power can have a hard time resisting the temptation to use that power for their own gain, and many public servants in many countries have been caught up in political scandals and corruption. While Modi’s tenure so far has generated cautious optimism among both voters and investors, the NiMo affair and the most recent CPI rankings serve as important reminders that corruption in the world's largest democracy continues to be a formidable challenge for both everyday Indians as well as those seeking to conduct business in India.Not all governments are looking out for the best interests of their citizens. The implementation of others, like the Lokpal Bill, which calls for the creation of state and federal anticorruption watchdogs with true investigative and prosecutorial powers, remains unfulfilled. Many Indian laws currently on the books lack genuine enforcement authority and deterrence power. This latest scandal underscores the need to strengthen India’s primary anticorruption mechanisms. More on Forbes: India's Historic Tax Overhaul, GST: What You Need To Know In fact, despite ongoing questions surrounding their efficacy, two of the most ambitious initiatives New Delhi unveiled last year- demonetization and the Goods and Service Tax (GST)-were intended to combat corruption, promote transparency, and encourage good governance. A key pillar of this campaign has been to adopt measures aimed at overcoming India’s reputation for endemic, deeply entrenched corruption. Since taking office, he has been relentless in his quest to make India a more attractive destination for foreign and domestic investment. The scandal risks undermining Prime Minister Modi’s hard earned anti-corruption credentials. The recent arrest of the former Indian Finance Minister’s son on corruption charges-which many have denounced as a brazenly partisan move-has only further heightened the perception that a cascade of corruption has suddenly flooded corporate India. Transparency International released its rankings just days after the bank fraud was first unearthed, further fueling public debate and discourse over whether India was making any real progress in fighting corruption. The “NiMo” scandal, as it is known in India, has once again propelled the country’s corruption problem to the top of the national agenda. Familiar questions about India’s culture of impunity for its rich and powerful have resurfaced. In both cases, critics have wondered how the Indian government could have permitted two such high-profile figures to leave the country given the circumstances. The billionaire playboy, whose spirits company manufactures Kingfisher beer, fled India in March 2016 after defaulting on loans worth more than $1.4 billion. His current whereabouts remain unknown. The entire saga has drawn inevitable comparisons to the disgraced former chairman of India’s United Breweries Group, Vijay Mallya. Mere days before the misconduct was uncovered, Modi left the country with his entire family. (CHANDAN KHANNA (CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP/Getty Images) Indian investigators on February 15 raided the premises of a billionaire jeweller accused of defrauding one of the country's biggest banks. Indian supporters of the Congress Party burn effigy of billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi in New Delhi. Although low-level graft has remained pervasive, the end of 2017 marked three and a half years of generally scandal-free governance under the Modi administration. Prime Minister Narendra Modi swept into power in May 2014 pledging to break the cycle of seemingly unending, multibillion dollar corruption scandals that defined the decade-long tenure of the previous government and drained the Indian treasury. Transparency International singled India out, along with the Maldives and the Philippines, as one of the region’s worst offenders in this regard.ĭespite its fall in the rankings, India’s corruption score has steadily improved in recent years. The report characterized anticorruption efforts in the Asia-Pacific as slow and imperfect, with a low CPI score correlated with fewer press freedoms and shrinking civil society space. For the first time in four years, China surpassed India, albeit barely, earning a score of 41 and rank of 77. The poorest performers in South Asia were Sri Lanka (score 38, rank 91), the Maldives (score 33, rank 112), Pakistan (score 32, rank 117) and Bangladesh (score 28, rank 142). Also on Forbes: Asia's Five Most Corrupt Countries