According to the report, bribery paid by businesses continues to take place despite computerisation in several places, and behind closed doors away from CCTVs.Businesses admitted to paying a bribe in the last 12 months to different types of entities for qualifying as a supplier, secure quotations and orders and collect payments.”Though initiatives like the Government eProcurement marketplace are good steps to reduce corruption, there are still openings to engage in corruption for supplier qualification, bid manipulation, completion certificate and payments,” the report said.Business firms that participated in the survey conducted between May 22 and November 30, 2024, said that 75 per cent of the bribes were paid to officials of departments such as legal, metrology, food, drug, health, etc.”Many also reported paying bribes to GST officials, pollution department, municipal corporation and power department,” the report said.Business entities in the survey shared that the number of bribery transactions and aggregate value of bribes paid by businesses surveyed reduced in the last 12 months.Commenting on the issue of anti-corruption, Deloitte India, Partner, Aakash Sharma said that Many organisations tend to believe that maintaining the bare minimum in terms of policies and procedures could result in no regulatory scrutiny and penal actions.”While this approach may have been sufficient in the past, recent upward trends in corruption cases, combined with the changing regulatory landscape require organisations to relook at their compliance framework and establish a robust anti-corruption programme,” Sharma said.
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