'Corruption, bribery and fraud biggest risks for India Inc'

Corruption, bribery and corporate fraud have emerged as the biggest risk factors affecting India Inc, according to a survey by Ficci and Pinkerton India.
The survey which was carried out to assess the risks across the industry spectrum and geographical regions of the country revealed that the unravelling of scams and frauds in both public and private sector recently have heightened their risk perception in the eyes of Corporates.
Besides, strikes, closures and unrest emerged as the second biggest risk and continue to invite serious concern from corporate India. In the 2013 survey, it was ranked as the biggest risk factor.

Political and governance instability turned out to be third biggest risk factor, especially in view of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, while crime and information & cyber insecurity were rated as fourth and fifth biggest risks, respectively.
The survey was released by Member in the National Disaster Management Authority J K Sinha.
Sinha underlined the need for a mechanism by which industry and government along with other stakeholders could anticipate and deal with disasters particularly in parts of the country which were vulnerable to such risks.

"There is an urgent need to combine the capabilities of industry and government to limit the impact of disasters on businesses so that they can go about their operations unhindered," he emphasised.

Chairman of the FICCI Homeland Security Committee G K Pillai said: "A policy environment that trusts businessmen and entrepreneurs is the need of the hour. India's ranking on ease of doing business has to improve by 50 places in the next twelve months if any impact has to be made."
The increase in crime rate in India is a cause of worry for the Indian economy. Foreign respondents in the survey have recognised the increasing percentage of crime as one of the major dampeners that inhibit prospects of business in India.
India remains as one of the violence prone nations with percentage of violent crimes registering a 65 per cent increase, the survey pointed out.

The banking sector continues to be more prone to cyber frauds. Also, government websites continue to be targeted particularly due to international publicity that hackers get and the opportunity to portray the government in the poor light, the survey found.