Bharti Airtel Emerges Most Transparent Company Among Emerging Countries; Chinese Companies Fare Worst
Transparency International’s latest research concerns corporate transparency and openness in revealing their information, globally. And there is some good news for India here.
As per the findings of the report, Indian companies have emerged as the most transparent among all the 15 emerging countries that included China, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Egypt, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey and UAE.
Bharti Airtel has been hailed as the most transparent company globally, as they achieved 7.3 score out of 10, whereas Tata Communication follows closely at #2 position with score of 7.0. Mahindra is at #3 with 6.7 score.
In fact, the top 8 positions have been grabbed by Indian companies only.
On the other hand, China has fared pretty badly in this research, thereby making them the most opaque companies in the world. The zeal with which Chinese companies guard their secrets have baffled Transparency International, as only one company managed to be positioned within top 25 rank.
8 companies from China have managed to score a perfect zero, which is unprecedented. Only ZTE, with a score of 5.9 has able to save grace for China.
If we talk about points scored, then only two companies have been able to score full 100% points any of the 3 dimensions scored: India’s Bharti Airtel and Petronas of Malaysia.
The report said, “Companies that disclose how they fight corruption send a strong signal to stakeholders and citizens that they are committed to clean business practices. If they are not prepared to make such commitments, businesses can end up contributing to the abuse of power, bribery and secret deals.”
Global Stagnation In Corporate Transparency
Overall, the score of openness and transparency has barely managed to maintain their scores, thereby indicating a stagnation in corporate honesty. When these 100 companies from ‘emerging markets’ were studies in 2013, they achieved an average score of 46%, which has slightly improved to 48% in 2016.
In fact, 81 out of 100 companies surveyed didn’t had any clear cut policy framework which prohibited them from using bribes as a mean to achieve business objectives!
41% of the companies didn’t had any means for employees to report any corrupt activities within the company.
Points wise, these 100 companies from emerging markets scored a paltry average of 3.4 out 10, which, according to Transparency International, is a failure.
India Praised For Corporate Transparency
Meanwhile, India was praised for their honest corporate culture, and for providing transparent data about their operations.
19 Indian companies were researched for this report, and they collectively achieved an average score of 77%; which is highest in the whole world.
Transparency International said that Indian companies were able to score high “because they are required by law to disclose key information about all their corporate entities abroad including their name, country of operation, percentages owned and some key financial data.”
Some other Indian companies which scored high in corporate transparency include: Tata Consulting Services, Tata Global Beverages, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Wipro, Tata Chemicals, Dr Reddy’s Lab, Infosys, Vedanta Resources, Hindalco, Bharat Forge and more.
You can find the complete report here.
