Do corporate ethics exist in India?
By Binu Paul, SiliconIndia   |   Wednesday, 15 December 2010, 13:56 IST   |    29 Comments
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Do corporate ethics exist in India?
Bangalore: The cancerous grip of corruption on Indian politics has been present for decades. It'ss also spreading to the business community where the corporate ethics has been damaged by the recent high profile scandals. There has been a series of scams involving the Indian corporates which reveal the unholy nexus between business and government that have tarnished the corporate ethical codes. As a part of law, ethics demands respect in business. According to the Corporate Governance Code of India, all directors annually sign Code of Corporate Ethics by which they are supposed to follow the work ethics. The corporate scams do not belong to the present government alone but has a long rooted history. It is difficult to trace where it all started but it seems like every corporate deal involves the shady works of intense lobbying behind the curtains. Lobbying, in a corporate sense, is more or less corruption by which it influences decisions made by legislators and officials in the government. We have the classic example of Satyam where business ethics were given no value as it manipulated the balance sheet by illegal means. The hard earned money of investors has been swindled by the board members with the least of morality or shame. The corrupt ties between politicians and business leaders is an open secret in the Satyam case. The recent series of corporate scams began with the findings of discrepancies in tenders and alleged misappropriation amounting to about 8,000 crore in the Commonwealth Games held in New Delhi. Many private companies have allegedly gained hefty projects through illegal means involving large sums of money. The 2G scan tops the list. Even the Supreme Court of India has expressed shock over the influence wielded by corporate power players on the government and on its policies. So far it remained a mystery for common man as what was it that made former Telecom Minister A. Raja sold 2 G spectrum for just 1,651 crore to 22 circles. But as more and more tapped telephone tapes are out to the open, it seems that the corporate lobbyist Nira Radia had not only influenced discussions in Parliament, but even had a role in the formation of the UPA government. Many big names of India's most respected corporate heads like Tata, Sunil Mittal, and Ambani have already been dragged to this issue already. The multi-crore bribe-for-loan scam that involves eight senior executives from various financial institutions have again shocked the country. The loan syndicator, Money Matters, bribed lenders from Bank of India, Central Bank of India, Punjab National Bank and LIC Housing Finance to get big-ticket loans sanctioned. As the common man is made to walk up and down the corridors of power to get a small time loan sanctioned for his livelihood, such cases pose a question as to where do the credibility lie? It is high time that we evaluate our corporate world's work ethics as many wonder if there is anything called corporate ethics at all in India. Scams are sprouting like mushrooming each day and for the common man, it's all highly complicated mysteries he can never understand. How do we define ethics? Making profit is not ethical, but if everyone defines ethics to suit their convenience, then ethics are meaningless. As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh rightly pointed out, corporate India needs to improve its ethics. There should be a well-balanced view on business and ethics and on how to do business keeping the morality factor intact.

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