China, India take graft bull by the horns

Each year, agencies such as Transparency International rank countries according to their levels of corporate and political corruption. Invariably, the countries where such agencies are located - Europe and North America - score highly while countries like China and India are shown to be high on corruption and low on honesty.

China has been ranked 100th in this year's Corruption Perception Index of Transparency International, down from 80th in 2013. The 20-spot drop is in sharp contrast to the ongoing massive anti-corruption campaign in China. Over the weekend, Zhou Yongkang, one of the former top Chinese officials, was arrested and expected to face trial for corruption.

China's slide on the index doesn't mean it has become more corrupt. Since it is a perception index, the more corruption is exposed the more corrupt officials will be punished and the lower the index will fall.