India ranked 79th in the Corruption Perception Index 2016

India has been ranked 79th among 176 countries in the Corruption Perception Index 2016 released by the Transparency International organisation. Its score marginally improved from 38 in 2015 to 40 in 2016. India had a score of 36 in 2012. 

The organisation has used the World Bank data, the world economic forum and other institutions to rank countries by perceived levels of corruption in public sector. The score runs from zero to 100, from highly corrupt to 100. Belarus, Brazil, & China shared the same ranks as India.

The list was topped by New Zealand and Denmark with a score of 90 each. Higher-ranked countries tend to have higher degrees of press freedom, access to information about public expenditure, stronger standards of integrity for public officials, and independent judicial systems.

Somalia was ranked the most corrupt country with a score of 10. Other countries with lower rankings were South Sudan, North Korea, Syria, and Yemen. The lower-ranked countries in the index were plagued by untrustworthy and badly functioning public institutions like the police and judiciary.