India has made modest progress in the 2025 Global Corruption Index, climbing five places from 96th in 2024 to 91st out of 180 countries assessed. The index, which scores nations from 0 to 100 based on perceived levels of public sector corruption, shows India’s rating rising from 38.2 to 41.5 — its largest single-year improvement since 2018.
Analysts say the gains reflect strengthened e-governance initiatives, greater transparency in audits, and the wider use of real-time digital monitoring in public procurement, which together are estimated to have reduced administrative delays across central government departments by around 15 per cent.
Despite the improvement, India’s score of 41.5 still places it below the global average of 47.0, highlighting the gap between incremental reform and bigger structural change. The 5.5-point difference from the world average may seem limited, yet in index terms it represents a notable governance gap, particularly as countries ranked within the top 60 typically score above 50.
The contrast is more pronounced when compared with high-income economies, which record an average score of 59.8, nearly 18.3 points higher than India. This disparity reflects structural differences in regulatory enforcement, institutional independence, and the robustness of anti-corruption safeguards. Within South Asia, however, India’s relative standing has strengthened.
It now ranks ahead of Pakistan (125th, 30.7) by 10.8 points, Nepal (112th, 34.1) by 7.4 points, and Bangladesh (109th, 35.0) by 6.5 points. At the same time, India remains behind Bhutan (78th, 49.4) by 7.9 points and Sri Lanka (83rd, 47.9) by 6.4 points, suggesting that certain regional counterparts have established comparatively stronger public integrity frameworks.
The relatively narrow gap with Sri Lanka indicates competitive regional positioning, while Bhutan’s higher score reflects firmer administrative oversight and lower perceived political interference.
However, concerns persist. The index recorded a 10 per cent rise in complaints relating to procurement irregularities within municipal bodies, and the effectiveness of whistleblower protection scored only 28.6 — well below the minimum benchmark of 50 typically associated with countries in the top 60.
Regionally, Europe continues to lead the 2025 rankings, with the top five nations scoring above 85, while the lowest-ranked countries register scores below 15. India’s position at 91st with a score of 41.5 signals steady progress, yet underlines the substantial effort still required to strengthen institutional trust and governance resilience. |
