Ways to combat rising levels of corruption in the business world were discussed at a seminar organised by the Global Compact Network India and International Business Leaders Forum here on Monday.
The seminar discussed seven case studies related to specific anti-corruption measures taken by top companies, such as e-procurement by Neyveli Lignite Corporation, anti-corruption and anti-briberyprogramme of Tata Steel, bill watch system of GAIL and anti-corruption practices at Infosys. The study paper on Neyveli Lignite focuses on its efforts to implement the integrity pact, a tool developed by Transparency International to help governments and civil society in fighting corruption, and itse-procurement system.
Tata Chemical implements a management of business ethics in all its operations, with the principal ethics officer being the managing director of the company. A handful of location ethics counsellors provide a link between the employees and PEO.
About seven years ago, multi-national company Siemens faced charges of corruption, being accused of rigging bids in USA and Europe. The top management of the company swung into action, charting out a culture of compliance. The result—overall the value of US public contracts awarded to the company has risen 20 per cent.
Another case study discussed was Mjunction Services Ltd, a joint venture between SAIL and Tata Steel, formed in 2001 for sale of secondary steel. Today it is the largest eCommerce company, having electronically transacted over Rs 1,25,000 crore till March 2012. The business volume of the company soared from Rs 94 crore in 2001-02 to Rs 29,500 crore last fiscal.
P Ramakrishna, president of NSL Group, said one way his company adopted to fight corruption was to withdraw from business territories where corruption was perceived to be high. “We have withdrawn from such ventures even after making substantial investments,” he said.