Favouritism is down, but not out in India

New Delhi: When it comes to favouritism shown by government officials to influential corporates, India’s ranking has improved sharply to 49th place on a global list, but remains below that of China and many major economies. India’s ranking has also improved significantly in terms of public trust in politicians, as also with regard to diversion of public funds and for the ‘irregular payments and bribery’ at government institutions, as per an annual study by the World Economic Forum (WEF). 

 

India was ranked 94th last year, while China’s position has improved by seven places to 22nd in the latest ranking of countries for ‘favouritism shown by government officials’. Qatar has replaced Singapore as the top ranked country with least probability of such favouritism while Venezuela continues to remain the worst place on this front. 

The countries have been ranked on the basis of a survey of the extent to which “government officials show favouritism to well-connected firms and individuals when deciding upon policies and contracts”.

 

In the BRICS block of five major emerging economies, India’s ranking is better than that of Russia (87th), South Africa (104th) and Brazil (108th) on this list. India is also ranked better than countries like Mauritius, Spain, Israel, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Myanmar and Bangladesh, among others, on this list which forms part of the WEF’s annual Global Competitiveness Report.

 

India’s score stands at 3.4, while top ranked Qatar has scored 5.6 points. India had scored 2.79 last year.The report further shows that India is now ranked 50th in terms of public trust in politicians, up from 115th last year. In terms of instances of ‘diversion of public funds’ also, India’s ranking has moved up to 60th place, from 98th last year.