India's bureaucracy is 'the most stifling in the world'

A new report has confirmed what many had long suspected Indians - their country's bureaucratic system is one of the most oppressive in the world.

The Hong Kong-based group, political and economic risk consultancy, studied more than 100 business executives in 12 Asian countries.

The poll suggested India had the worst levels of red tape reduction.

Yet this seems not to have impeded performance - he's just another set of strong growth.

But for many foreign companies that success, despite rather than because of the system they face, the report says.

There has been no response to the report of the civil service.
Bureaucracy and corruption

The report ranks bureaucracies in Asia on a scale of one to 10, with 10 being the worst possible score. India scored 9.41.
Frequent promises to reform the bureaucracy, the report says, have come to nothing, mainly because the bureaucracy is a power center in its own right.

Starting a business in India is incredibly hard, and enforcement of contracts can be almost impossible.

There is a strong bond, the report says, between bureaucracy and corruption - and a widespread belief that bureaucrats are selfish and very insensitive to the needs of the people they need help.

None of this will come as a surprise for most Indians, or to many within the civil service itself.

A recent survey by the Indian bureaucracy found large numbers of officials complain of undue political interference and a widespread fear that no one questioned the scheme would be transferred to obscure posts in bureaucratic backwaters.

Given the level of dissatisfaction among foreign businessmen and the Indians themselves, the political and economic risk consultancy report is an interesting question: how much better would India need to do if they were able to reduce bureaucracy?

One consequence is that it considers the inertia generated by a stifling bureaucratic system will in the medium term to prevent India, which match the growth rates of the major Asian rival China.