'Indian firms perform best in BRICS in corporate transparency'

According to Transparency International report, companies from China lag behind in every dimension with an overall score of 20%

Indian firms have performed best among emerging market economies in terms of transparency in corporate reporting and the top three positions have been bagged by Tata group companies, says a report by anti- corruption watchdog Transparency International.

The index' top three slots were bagged by Indian firms with three of Tata Groups' firms ranked in the top two Tata Communications with a score of 7.1 topped the list, while Tata Global Beverages and Tata Steel with a score of (6.6) shared the second position, followed by  Bharti Airtel with a score of (6.4).

The companies were ranked in a scale of 0-10 where 0 is least transparent and 10 is most transparent.

This index was based on the unweighted average of results in three categories -- result for reporting on anti-corruption programmes; result for organisational transparency and result for country-by-country reporting.

The other Indian companies which got featured in the list include Tata Chemicals, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Motors, Tata Consultancy Services, Reliance Industries, Wipro, Lupin Ltd, Dr Reddy's, Vedanta Resourses, Infosys, Suzlon, Hindalco, Larsen & Toubro, Crompton Greaves, Bharat Forge and Bajaj Auto.

Among the 75 companies from the BRICS in the sample, 33 are from China, 20 from India, 13 from Brazil, 6 from Russia and 3 from South Africa.

The report further noted that companies from China lag behind in every dimension with an overall score of 20%. Considering their growing influence in markets around the world, this poor performance is of concern.

In contrast, Indian firms perform best in the BRICS with a result of 54%, it said.

"In India, domestic legal requirements have led to Indian companies providing more extensive financial information on their subsidiaries. They also report on the countries in which their subsidiaries are incorporated," the report said.

With the notable exception of the Indian companies, most emerging market companies in the sample are still a very long way from disclosing financial data across all countries of operations. Most of the companies disclose little or no financial data on a country-by-country basis, with companies from China disclosing the least, it added.