Political and bureaucratic corruption in India are major concerns.

A 2005 study conducted by Transparency International in India found that more than 45% of Indians had first-hand experience of paying bribes or influence peddling to get jobs done in public offices successfully. Transparency International estimates that truckers pay US 5 billion $ in bribes annually. In 2010 India was ranked 87th out of 178 countries in Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index.

Overview
Although former Prime Minister and Congress party leader Indira Gandhi is quoted as saying that corruption is a misuse of power, she also publicly stated that "corruption was a global phenomenon" and her government was no different.[4][5][6] Successive central governments and members of India's famous Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty have often been accused most of corruption and amassing illegal wealth among India's political class.[4][7][8] The year 2011 has proved to be a watershed in the public tolerance of political corruption in India, with widespread public protests and movements led by social activists against corruption and for the return of illegal wealth stashed by politicians and businessmen in foreign banks over the six decades since independence. Criminalization is also a serious problem in contemporary Indian politics.[9] In July 2008 The Washington Post reported that nearly a fourth of the 540 Indian Parliament members faced criminal charges, "including human trafficking, immigration rackets, embezzlement, rape and even murder".[10] India tops the list for black money in the entire world with almost US$1456 billion in Swiss banks (approximately USD 1.4 trillion) in the form of black money.[11] According to the data provided by the Swiss Banking Association Report (2006), India has more black money than the rest of the world combined.[12][13] To put things in perspective, Indian-owned Swiss bank account assets are worth 13 times the countrys national debt.[14] Independent reports published through 1991 to 2011 calculated the financial net worth of India's most powerful and traditionally ruling family (the Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty) to be anywhere between $9.41 billion (Rs 42,345 crore) to $18.66 billion (Rs 83,900 crore), most of it in the form of illegal monies.[4] Harvard scholar Yevgenia Albats cited KGB correspondence about payments to Rajiv Gandhi and his family, which had been arranged by Viktor Chebrikov,[15][16][17] which shows that KGB chief Viktor Chebrikov sought in writing an "authorization to make payments in US dollars to the family members of Rajiv Gandhi, namely Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Paola Maino, mother of Sonia Gandhi" from the CPSU in December 1985.[15][16][17]

The recent scams involving unimaginably big amounts of money, such as the 2G spectrum scam, are well known. It is estimated that more than trillion dollars are stashed away in foreign havens, while 80% of Indians earn less than 2$ per day and every second child is malnourished. It seems as if only the honest people are poor in India and want to get rid of their poverty by education, emigration to cities, and immigration, whereas all the corrupt ones, like Hasan Ali Khan are getting rich through scams and crime. It seems as if India is a rich country filled with poor people",[18] the organisers of Dandi March II in the United States said.[19] The Comptroller and Auditor General of India said, As on March 31, 2010, unutilised committed external assistance was of the order of Rs.1,05,339 crore.[20] In a most recent example of corruption, even as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) probes US$8 billion worth transactions allegedly involving suspected money launderer Hasan Ali Khan, evidence available with a news source in India shows that he had transactions of over 112,000 crore (US$24.86 billion) between years 2005 and 2006. This amount is enough to fund the national drinking water project in all the six lakh (600,000) villages in India for the next 10 years.[21]