A few days back I had mentioned in a facebook update, that price rise and corruption has impacted me a lot, since returning back from US. Corruption is a hot topic in India for the past few months. However, there were some questions raised by a few fellow entrepreneurs, as to how corruption is impacting India. It appears few of us are not aware of the real impact of corruption on our society and we as common people in general.

There are two type of corruption. Direct and indirect.

Direct corruption are something which we come across once in a while. Paying bribes at traffic offenses, paying bribes to government officials to get things done, forced to pay extra fare in auto, taxis and so on. These are the kind of stuff which we often deal in person. Even I have come across this in the last few days I am here. Getting a company registered alone is a herculean task, top that with the bribes needed to get things done. I was talking with a fellow entrepreneur friend of mine. He was saying, how an officer who came to inspect the business started picking out issues, obviously to take bribe. Also, the officer mentioned to him directly, to appoint a CA to get this job, and he will get the certificate. Why? It appears the officers for the fear of vigilance and other stuff, only take bribe from known people only. This friend of mine now had to pay bribe plus the CA fees. An example of a failure of a system to control corruption.

The bigger evil is actually the indirect corruption. These are the kind of corruption, which you can not avoid and knowingly or unknowingly have to become a part of it. How? Lets take the example of telecom sector. Almost everyone today has got a mobile phone or a telephone in their house. When a company have to pay bribe in crores for various approvals, who are they going to take the money from? Obviously from us. As a result of which, we end up paying a lot more than what we normally would have. Although the call rates are low, we are screwed in services, wrong billing, hidden charges, roaming charges, and what not. Without corruption, the laws protecting the consumers would be stronger and we would see better rates and better services. If there is mistake from the service provider end, they would be fined a lot more. If you think the companies are doing a good job reducing call rates, they are not. We can not compare an Indian call rate that with US call rates. The reason being, the volume of calls in India are far and above what it is in US. With the same infra getting used better, the call cost can come down. And secondly, no one mentions about the unlimited plans available in the US. Do we have any unlimited call plans yet in India?

So how it has impacted me as an entrepreneur. The infrastructure, which is again in dire straits due to corruption, results in spending 30 minutes in commute, for a 5 kilometer distance. Resulting in wasting of precious time, and fuel. Opening  a corporate bank account takes 5 days, and numerous phone calls to get things done. I do not think I have to talk about the health sector. Rising Prices of necessary commodities, higher cost of services, higher rentals, and wastage of time are few other factors which impacts me as an entrepreneur.

I can just imagine the quality of life, if things like these can be improved in general. I am sure, things will become better as we go ahead, but if both direct and indirect corruptions are removed, the progress in India will be much faster and it will be lot more easier for entrepreneurs.