India drops to 93rd place on Transparency International’s corruption index for 2023

India ranked 93 out of 180 countries on the global corruption perceptions index for 2023 released on Tuesday by NGO Transparency International.

While the country’s ranking fell by eight places as compared to 2022, its score dropped by one point.

India’s score in 2023 was 39, as against 40 in 2022. The country was ranked at 85th place in 2022.

Transparency International ranks countries on a scale of zero (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean) based on their perceived levels of corruption in the public sector.

India shares the rank with the Maldives, Kazakhstan, and Lesotho.

“India shows score fluctuations small enough that no firm conclusions can be drawn on any significant change,” the Transparency International report said. “However, ahead of the elections, India sees further narrowing of civic space, including through the passage of a bill [Telecommunications Bill] that could be a grave threat to fundamental rights.”

The Telecommunications Bill, passed by Parliament last month, allows the Centre to temporarily take control of telecom services in the interest of national security.

The Transparency International report added: “As the Asia Pacific region faces a big 2024 election year, with people coming out to vote in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Solomon Islands, South Korea and Taiwan, the 2023 Corruption Perceptions Index [CPI] reveals another year of little to no meaningful progress towards curbing corruption.”

Denmark, with a score of 80, topped the index for the sixth consecutive year. The country was followed by Finland, New Zealand, Norway and Singapore.

The bottom five countries on the list were Somalia, Venezuela, Syria, South Sudan and Yemen.

The global average score on the index remained unchanged at 43 for the twelfth straight year, with over two-thirds of countries scoring less than 50 points.