In emerging mkts, Tatas best anti-corruption crusader

Tata Communications tops transparency list of BRICS multinationals, anti-corruption watchdog says Indian firms most transparent

Tata Communications is on top in an index prepared by anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International on how transparently companies present measures on combating corruption. Meaning, the Tata company was among the most transparent in public pledges on addressing corruption and organisational transparency.

Tata Global Beverages and Tata Steel are No 2 and No 3, followed by Bharti Airtel, in the ranking of 100 companies from 16 emerging markets, rated on three counts: following anti-corruption programmes, organisational transparency and transparency in each country they operate.

Reliance Industries (RIL) was ranked 13, a notch above Wipro. Infosys stood at 29, much below Vedanta and Dr Reddy's Laboratories. Ten Indian companies figure in the top 15.

Chinese worst
The survey drew chest-thumping from Indian companies, with Bharti Airtel sending out an announcement of its No 4 position. Infosys and Wipro did not reply to phone calls and mails seeking comment about their grades.

In heartening news, Indian companies performed best in the BRICS economies (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), 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 a little more than a third of assessed companies, had the weakest overall performance. Seventy-five of the 100 companies evaluated were from BRICS. The Berlin-based watchdog admonished Chinese companies for their opaque business practices, while praising Indian firms' relatively high standards, in the survey released on Thursday.

"Results show that companies from China lag in every dimension, with an overall score of 20 per cent," Transparency said in the report. "Considering their growing influence in markets around the world, this poor performance is of concern."

Eight of the 10 worst-performing companies in the overall index were Chinese, such as state-owned Chery Automobile Co, which along with Mexico's privately-owned consumer goods group Mabe, scored zero points.

Wang Wei, a spokesman for Chery, said he had never heard of Transparency International and the organisation had never made contact with him. Pablo Moreno, corporate affairs director of Mabe, said the report did not fairly reflect the company's control and transparency mechanisms because it was based on information available on company websites. As a private company, Mabe is not obliged to publicly reveal information related to its business activities but complies with strict ethics, he added.

Transparency International said public disclosure of anti-bribery measures "confirms a company's commitment to ethical conduct" and made it easier for the public to monitor these.

Long way to go
Three quarters of the emerging market companies scored less than five out of 10, where zero is the least transparent and 10 the most. About 60 per cent of the companies evaluated do not sisclose information about political contributions.

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.

Tatas, Reliance
Tata Communications scored high due to a combination of factors. Such as 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 anti-corruption transparency can be compared to an earlier score from a Transparency International report; Reliance Industries is one.

A 2012 Transparency International report on the world's largest companies included five 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 per cent to 65 per cent.

These improvements are due to the publication of updated or new documents on these companies' websites, said the report.

Publicly-listed companies scored over government-owned or privately-held companies, showing the positive impact of disclosures required by bourses. Emirates, a state-owned airline, came first in the category for organisational transparency, followed by Johnson Electric Holdings of China and Malaysian state energy company Petronas.