New Delhi, Sept. 23 (PTI): At least 30 per cent of business executives across the world believe Indians are among the most corrupt when doing business abroad, according to a report by an NGO, Transparency International India.

The Global Corruption Report 2009: Corruption and the Private Sector, which was released today, claims that Indian and Chinese companies play an active role in global business but also engage in “bribery” to “speed things up”.

The Competition Act of 2002, which promotes and sustains competition in markets and protects the interest of consumers, has remained a non-starter in India, the report said.

“A minimum of 100 senior executives each in 26 countries were questioned regarding the practices used by businesspersons from various nations,” it said.

“TII has had some measure of success with public sector firms with the use of Integrity Pact, a tool to check corruption in procurement and tendering. We have not been able to generate similar interest among the private sector yet,” said TII chairman R.H. Tahiliani in a statement.

The report also addressed how the financial power of some firms and business sectors translates into disproportionate and undue leverage on political-decision making.

“Companies have no clear-cut guideline on regulating and making transparent political contributions,” said Anupama Jha, TII executive director.

Half of the 2,742 business executives who took part in the survey estimated that corruption raised project costs by at least 10 per cent.