India has highest bribery rate in Asia, 46 per cent use personal connections to access public services: Report

Corruption is more prevalent in India in comparison to other Asian countries, a new report suggests so. According to a report by corruption watchdog Transparency International, India has the highest bribery rate in Asia and the most number of people who use personal connections to access public services.

The report is based upon the survey which was conducted between June 17 and July 17 this year, in India with a sample size of 2,000.

The Global Corruption Barometer (GCB) Asia, found that nearly 50 per cent of those who paid bribes were asked to, while 32 per cent of those who used personal connections said they would not receive the service otherwise.

'With the highest bribery rate (39 per cent) in the region, India also has the highest rate of people using personal connections to access public services (46 per cent),' the report said.

After India, Cambodia has the second highest bribery rate at 37 per cent, followed by Indonesia (30 per cent) while the Maldives and Japan maintain the lowest overall bribery rate (2 per cent), followed by South Korea (10 per cent) and Nepal (12 per cent).