Navigating India’s bureaucracy while trying to run an honest business is already difficult. Yesterday a Supreme Court verdict made it harder. In response to a petition by anticorruption activists, the court issued a ruling which means that even if a company manages to keep its own nose clean and win regulatory approval without paying off greedy bureaucrats, it could still lose its license to operate if competitors bribed officials.

The court canceled all 122 mobile phone licenses Delhi awarded in 2008 because former Telecom Minister Andimuthu Raja decided to do so on a first-come, first-served basis, instead of through a fair auction. This approach was indefensible, and the case has snowballed into the largest corruption case in Indian history. It’s hardly an aberration. Judging by reports, graft and abuses of power are reaching epidemic proportions.

To read this Wall Street Journal report in full, see:
online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203889904577198691493796270.html