Featured Study · India · 2025

Does one glove fit all 180 countries?

TI ranks India 93rd using surveys answered by foreign analysts, in English, weighted heavily toward outside perception. A clerk asking for ₹200 counts. $4.2 billion in US lobbying does not.

Responses collected
0 / 1000
Live
India's TI rank (2024)
93 / 180
Built on 0 Indian resident surveys
Avg. rank gap our model shows
—
places — same data, different method
TI weight given to foreign perception
27.5%
The single largest driver of India's rank
US lobbying spend — invisible to TI
$4.2B
Legal. Paying money to influence govt. Not counted.
13
TI sources — none survey Indian residents
30–60
Rank places the same data shifts by method
7
Distinct cultural corruption models compared
0
Times TI asked about chai pani or sifarish
Independent academic research · Not affiliated with Transparency International · All data anonymised
0 / 8
Before we begin
Where do you live?
Used only to build a state-level corruption index from resident experience. Your state is never shown individually.
Question 01 of 08 — The Gift
After a government official helped you, did you offer money or sweets out of happiness?
Not counted as corruption in this study — we ask to separate voluntary gifts from demanded payments.
Question 02 of 08 — The Demand
Was money or a favour ever demanded before your work would get done?
Licence, ration card, certificate, hospital admission — any government office interaction.
Question 03 of 08 — The Thought
When money was demanded, did you think about reporting it?
If it never happened to you, select the first option.
Question 04 of 08 — The Contact
Have you used a personal contact (sifarish) to get something done that should have happened officially anyway?
School admission, a file moved faster, a complaint attended to.
Question 05 of 08 — The Outsider View
How do you think a foreign journalist would describe what you just told us?
In the US, companies legally spend $4.2B/year lobbying. This single question carries 27.5% of India's weight in the TI index.
Question 06 of 08 — Election Time
Around election time, do candidates or their people visit homes with gifts, cash, or promises of favours?
Answer from what you've personally seen in your area.
Question 07 of 08 — The RTI
Did you know you can legally demand to see how government money was spent — and would you get a straight answer?
Under the RTI Act 2005, any citizen can request expenditure records from any government department.
Question 08 of 08 — The Trend
Is getting things done through government offices requiring more or less "knowing people" than 5 years ago?
Think about your own experience, not news headlines.
Your results — two methodologies, one set of answers.
📍 Responding from: —
TI — CPI Simulation
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out of 180
Citizen Experience Model
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out of 180
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