INDIA RANKS 94th IN GOLBAL CORRUPTION INDEX

India was today ranked among the world's highly corrupt nations at the 94th spot in a global list topped by Denmark and New Zealand as the cleanest, while Somalia emerged as the most corrupt. While India's rank has remained unchanged from the last year, it has emerged as more corrupt than three of its BRICS peers -- China (80th), South Africa and Brazil (both ranked 72nd) -- but better than Russia (127th) in this annual list of 177 countries compiled by Transparency International. According to the list, India has scored 36 points on a scale of 0-100, where 0 means that a country is perceived as highly corrupt and 100 means it is perceived as very clean. None of the countries have managed to get the perfect 100 score. Top-ranked Denmark and New Zealand have scored 91 points each to share the first place on the list. Somalia shares lowest rank with North Korea and Afghanistan with 8 points each. Those scoring marginally better than these three countries include Sudan, Libya, Iraq, Uzbekistan, Syria, Haiti, Venezuela, Zimbabwe and Myanmar. On the other hand, Denmark and New Zealand are followed by Finland, Sweden, Norway, Singapore, Switzerland, Netherlands, Australia and Canada in the top ten. Among other major countries, Germany is at 12th, the UK 14th, Hong Kong 15th, Japan 18th and the US at 19th spot. India has done better than its neighbour Pakistan (ranked 127th), as also countries like Thailand (102nd), Mexico (106th), Egypt (114th), Nepal (116th), Vietnam (116th), Bangladesh (136th) and Iran (144th). Releasing the list here today, Transparency International said that its "Corruption Perceptions Index 2013 offers a warning that the abuse of power, secret dealings and bribery continue to ravage societies around the world". More than two thirds of 177 countries have scored below 50 -- the mid-way point between most corrupt and the cleanest.