India, China ranked 72 out of 180 in corruption rankings

Global anti-graft watchdog Transparency Internationals (TI) newly released 2007 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), has ranked both India and China 72nd out of 180 countries.

New Delhi, Oct.8 : Global anti-graft watchdog Transparency International's (TI) newly released 2007 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), has ranked both India and China 72nd out of 180 countries.

The composite index draws on 14 expert opinion surveys, mostly based on perceptions of corruption by businesspeople and country analysts. It scores countries and regions on a scale from zero to 10, with zero indicating the highest levels of perceived corruption.

The Chinese mainland scored an average of 3.5 this year, an increase of 0.2 from last year. The country ranked 70 out of the last year's 163 countries and regions.

Tsinghua University professor Ren Jianming said the ranking is basically in accordance with the status quo of corruption in China and immediate big improvements on the index are not likely in the short term.

"The index is mainly affected by the subjective perception of a country. Once a perception has formed it takes time to change it," The China Daily quoted Professor Jianming, as saying.

Peking University professor Li Chengyan said that though the slight increase shows international recognition of China's efforts to curb corruption, the comparatively low score implies a belief that corruption is still rampant.

ANI