India climbs 9 spots on global corruption index, ranked less corrupt than China: Report

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: India has showed some improvement in addressing corruption last year, ranking 76th among 167 countries as against 85th last year, graft watchdog Transparency International (TI) said on Wednesday.

Nordic countries -- Denmark, Finland and Sweden -- topped the chart with their clean public sectors as in previous years, while strife-torn or repressive states -- Afghanistan, North Korea and Somalia -- brought up the rear.

The other top spots, from third to ninth, were occupied by New Zealand, Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, Singapore and Canada.

South Africa took 61st place with 44 points. Brazil and India were tied at 76th place, with scores of just 38, while China fared slightly worse, at 83th place with 37 points. Russia only came in at 119th position, managing just 29 points.

Emerging giants, in particular, showed a worrisome picture in the index used widely used as a gauge of the level of corruption by governments, legal systems, political parties and bureaucracies.

Overall, two-thirds of the countries measured by TI scored below the 50-point mark out of a top score of 100.

Brazil was the biggest decliner in the index, falling 5 points and dropping 7 positions to a rank of 76. The unfolding Petrobras scandal brought people into the streets in 2015 and the start of judicial process may help Brazil stop corruption.

The big decliners in the past 4 years include Libya, Australia, Brazil, Spain and Turkey. The big improvers include Greece, Senegal and UK.