Indian bureaucracy most inefficient in Asia: Survey

Singapore, June 2 (PTI) India has the most inefficient
bureaucracy in Asia and red-tape is much worse than in China,
says a survey.

In the ranking of 12 countries, India has been named as
having the most inefficient bureaucracy followed by Indonesia
and the Philippines, according to the survey of expatriate
business executives conducted by the Hong Kong-based Political
and Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC).
Quoting the consultancy, news agency AFP has reported
that bureaucratic red-tape is a serious problem in India and
China but "the differences in the political systems of these
two countries have made inertia much worse in India than in
China".
The ranking is based on a scale from one to 10 and a
score of 10 indicates the worst possible scenario.
India scored 9.41, followed by Indonesia (8.59), the
Philippines (8.37), Vietnam (8.13) and China (7.93).
As per the survey, Singapore and Hong Kong with scores of
2.53 and 3.49, respectively, have the most efficient
bureaucracies.
Other countries ranked are Malaysia (6.97), Taiwan (6.6),
Japan (6.57), South Korea (6.13) and Thailand (5.53).
As many as 1,373 middle and senior expatriate executives
participated in the survey conducted earlier this year.
Writing about India, PERC said, "politicians frequently
promise to reform and revitalise the Indian bureaucracy, but
they have been ineffective in doing so--mainly because the
civil service is a power centre in its own right".
The consultancy noted that dealing with India's
bureaucracy "can be one of the most frustrating experiences
for any Indian, let alone a foreign investor".
PERC noted that bureaucracies in some Asian countries
have become power centres in their own right, allowing them to
effectively resist efforts toward reforms by politicians and
appointed officials. PTI RAM