Corporate transparency: Tatas, RIL score

Indian companies performed best in BRICS, according to Transparency International 2013 report

A Transparency International 2013 report on transparency in corporate reporting of 100 fastest-growing companies in 16 emerging countries ranked Tata Communications as the highest - meaning it was among the most ethical.

Three Tata companies got the top three ranks, followed by Bharti Airtel, in an index where the corruption watchdog rated companies on publicly available information on three counts: following anti-corruption programmes, organizational transparency and transparency in each country they operate in.

Reliance Industries Ltd or RIL was ranked 13, one rank above Wipro. Infosys Technologies stood at 29, much below Vedanta and Dr Reddy's Laboratories. Ten Indian companies figure in the top 15.

In a piece of heartening news, Indian companies perform best in BRICS with a score of 5.4 out of 10 due to national laws obliging publication of key financial information on their subsidiaries.

Chinese companies, which accounted for more than a third of assessed companies, had the weakest overall performance. Seventy-five of the 100 companies evaluated were from BRICS.

Long way to go

Three quarters of the emerging market companies scored less than 5 out of 10, where 0 is the least transparent and 10 is the most transparent. Transparency International based the scores on publicly available information about anti-corruption measures, transparency in reporting, on how the companies structure themselves and the amount of financial information they provide for each country they operate in.

"The time has come for emerging markets to play their part in the global fight against corruption," said Transparency International chair Huguette Labelle.

About 60% per cent of the companies evaluated do not even disclose information about political contributions.

Tatas, Reliance

Tata Communications scores due to a combination of factors: the company's stated commitment to conducting business ethically; its domestic legal and regulatory environment; and the recognition by management of the risks of corruption.

Only five companies' performance in terms of ethics can be compared to an earlier score from a Transparency International report; Reliance Industries Ltd is one of them. A 2012 Transparency International report on the world's largest companies included five companies which are in the emerging economies report - America Movil, Gazprom, Petrobas, Reliance Industries and Saudi Basic Industries.

For Reliance, the scores for reporting on anti-corruption programmes improved from 23% to 65%. These improvements are due to the publication of updated or new documents on these companies' websites, said the report.

Listing

Publicly-listed companies score over government-owned or privately-held companies, showing the positive impact of disclosures required by bourses.

Transparency International said on the methodology of rating

The information a company reports about its anti-corruption systems is an indicator of awareness and commitment to combating corruption. While robust disclosure practices do not necessarily reduce all risks of corruption, they are a sign of the right tone from top management. Organisational transparency, it said, refers to clear and comprehensive reporting on information related to company holdings, such as subsidiaries, branches, affiliates, joint ventures, and the like. Good organisational transparency makes it possible to trace financial flows. Country-by-country reporting refers to the publication of financial data for each country of operation where a company operates. The report looked for companies to consolidate key financial information for all their holdings in a particular country.