The following is a list of proven scandals in India since independence, including political, financial and corporate scandals. The year, or decade, is when the scandal was first reported.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is the domestic crime investigating agency of India. It operates under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions. Originally set up to investigate bribery and governmental corruption, in 1965 it received expanded jurisdiction to investigate breaches of central laws enforceable by the Government of India, multi-state organised crime, multi-agency or international cases. CBI is exempted from the provisions of the Right to Information Act. CBI is India's officially designated single point of contact to act as the liaison with Interpol. The CBI headquarter is located in CGO Complex, near Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi.
The Bofors scandal was a major weapons-contract political scandal that occurred between India and Sweden during the 1980s and 1990s, initiated by Indian National Congress politicians and implicating the Indian prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi, and several other members of the Indian and Swedish governments. These politicians were accused of receiving kickbacks from Bofors AB, an arms manufacturer principally financed by the Wallenberg family's Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken, for winning a bid to supply to India the company's 155 mm field howitzer – the sale of 410 field howitzers, and a supply contract for almost twice that amount, totalling a US$1.4 billion deal. It was the biggest arms deal ever in Sweden, and money marked for development projects was diverted to secure this contract at any cost. The investigations revealed flouting of rules and bypassing of institutions.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is the regulatory body for securities and commodity market in India under the administrative domain of Ministry of Finance within the Government of India. It was established on 12 April 1988 as an executive body and was given statutory powers on 30 January 1992 through the SEBI Act, 1992.
Harshad Shantilal Mehta was an Indian stockbroker, businessman, and convicted fraudster. Mehta's involvement in the 1992 Indian securities scam led him to gain infamy for market manipulation.
The Comptroller and Auditor General of India is the supreme audit institution of India, established under Article 148 of the Constitution of India. They are empowered to audit all receipts and expenditure of the Government of India and the State Governments, including those of autonomous bodies and corporations substantially financed by the government. The CAG is also the statutory auditor of Government-owned corporations and conducts supplementary audit of government companies in which the government has an equity share of at least 51 percent or subsidiary companies of existing government companies. The CAG is also the statutory auditor of the Lokpal.
Adani Group is an Indian multinational conglomerate, headquartered in Ahmedabad. Founded by Gautam Adani in 1988 as a commodity trading business, the Group's businesses include sea and airport management, electricity generation and transmission, mining, natural gas, food, weapons, and infrastructure. It is particularly active in metal commodity exchange. More than 60% of its revenue is derived from coal-related businesses.
The Fodder Scam was a corruption scandal that involved the embezzlement of about ₹940 crore from the government treasury of the north Indian state of Bihar. Among those implicated in the theft and arrested were then Chief Minister of Bihar, Lalu Prasad Yadav, as well as former Chief Minister, Jagannath Mishra. The scandal led to the end of Lalu's reign as Chief Minister. Dineshwar Prasad Sharma is also alleged to have received ₹300.60 crore from S. N. Sinha. On 23 December 2017, Lalu Prasad Yadav was convicted by a special CBI court while Jagannath Misra was acquitted.
Andimuthu Raja is an Indian politician from Tamil Nadu, who serves as Member of Parliament for the Nilgiris constituency and the deputy general secretary of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. He was a member of the 15th Lok Sabha representing the Nilgiris constituency of Tamil Nadu and had been elected to house four times since 1996. Raja is an advocate by profession and he did his master's degree from Government Law College in Tiruchirappalli.
Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Limited (APSEZ) is an Indian multinational port operator and logistics company, part of Adani Group. APSEZ is India's largest private port operator with a network of 12 ports and terminals, including India's first port-based SEZ at Mundra and the first deep water transshipment port at Thiruvananthapuram. The company has attracted controversies for cronyism, alleged stock manipulation and violation of environmental norms.
Gautam Shantilal Adani is an Indian billionaire businessman who is the founder and chairman of the Adani Group, a multinational conglomerate involved in port development and operations in India. As of 17 January 2025, Adani is ranked second richest person in Asia and 25th in the world, with a net worth of $60.4 billion. In 2022, Time magazine included him in the 100 most influential people in the world.
The 2G spectrum case was a political controversy in which politicians and private officials of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) coalition government India were allegedly involved in selling or allotting 122 2G spectrum licenses on conditions that provided an advantage to specific telecom operators. A. Raja, then Telecom Minister, was accused of selling 2G spectrum licenses at a very low cost which resulted in the loss of ₹1,760 billion in government revenue. Raja was also accused of not following rules and regulations as well as not recognizing any advice from the Ministries of Finance and Law and Justice of India while allotting 2G spectrum licenses to telecom operators. Series of allegations were made on allotting 2G spectrum licenses including allegations from Central Bureau of Investigation after investigating the case alleging Raja for intentionally advancing the cut-off date to favour some specific firms, which were allegedly ineligible for applying for telecom licenses, in return for bribes.
Adani Power is an Indian multinational power and energy company, subsidiary of Adani Group and based in Khodiyar in Ahmedabad, India. It is a private thermal power producer, with a capacity of 15,250 MW and operates a mega solar plant of 40 MW at Naliya, Bitta, Kutch, Gujarat. Adani Godda Power is implementing a 1,600 MW plant at Jharkhand. The company has signed long term power purchase agreements of about 9,153 MW with the government of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Haryana, Rajasthan, Karnataka, and Punjab.
Also referred to as the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal, the Indian helicopter bribery scandal by Congress led UPA Government refers to a multimillion-dollar corruption case in India, wherein money was paid to middlemen and Indian officials in 2006 and 2007 to purchase helicopters for high level politicians. As per the CBI, this amounted to ₹2.5 billion (US$29 million), transferred through bank accounts in the UK and UAE.
The Saradha Group financial scandal was a major political scandal caused by the collapse of a Ponzi scheme run by Saradha Group, a consortium of over 200 private companies that was believed to be running collective investment schemes popularly but incorrectly referred to as chit funds in Eastern India.
Jagat Prakash Nadda is an Indian lawyer and politician who is serving as the 34th Minister of Health, 25th Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers since 2024 and 11th President of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) since 2020 and the member of the Rajya Sabha representing Gujarat since 2024. A key decision maker of the BJP, he is a close aide to Narendra Modi. He was the BJP's working president from 2019 to 2020. Nadda was also the Minister of Health and Family Welfare in the first Modi ministry from 2014 to 2019 and Parliamentary Board Secretary of Bharatiya Janata Party. Nadda is the Minister of Health and Family Welfare and Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers in the third Modi ministry.
Paranjoy Guha Thakurta is an Indian journalist, writer, publisher, documentary film maker and teacher. He has been a guest faculty member at IIM Ahmedabad for 18 consecutive years, and also taught at the IIMs at Calcutta and Shillong, the University of Delhi, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Asian College of Journalism and Jamia Millia Islamia among other educational institutions. He is the only Indian journalist referred to in the famous Hindenburg Report on Adani.
The defence industrial sector of India is strategically important in India. India has one of the world's largest military forces with a strength of over 1.44 million active personnel. The country has the world's largest volunteer military of over 5.1 million personnel. The total budget sanctioned for the Indian military for the financial year 2021 is ₹4.78 lakh crore. It has the third largest annual defence budget behind USA and China. It is the second largest defence importer behind Saudi Arabia making up 9.2% of global arms imports. India has a domestic defence industry of which 60% is government owned. The public sector includes NTRO, CSIR, PRL, DRDO and its 50 labs, 4 defence shipyards, 12 defence public sector undertakings (PSUs). India has a new defence procurement, acquisition and manufacturing policy to reduce imports and enhance domestic manufacturing.
A Fugitive Economic Offender is a legal term in India. It relates to any individual against whom a warrant for arrest in relation to a "scheduled offence" has been issued by any Indian court under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act. It applies to individuals who either left India to avoid criminal prosecution; or, being abroad, refuses to return to India to face criminal prosecution. The list of Fugitive Economic Offenders currently residing abroad is Pushpesh Baid, Ashish Jobanputra, Vijay Mallya, Sunny Kalra, Sanjay Kalra, Sudhir Kumar Kalra, Aarti Kalra, Varsha Kalra, Jatin Mehta, Umesh Parekh, Kamlesh Parekh, Nilesh Parekh, Eklavya Garg, Vinay Mittal, Nirav Modi, Neeshal Modi, Mehul Choksi, Sabya Seth, Rajiv Goyal, Alka Goyal, Lalit Modi, Nitin Jayantilal Sandesara, Chetankumar Sandesara, Ritesh Jain, Hitesh Narendrabhai Patel, Mayuriben Patel and Priti Ashish Jobanputra.
Adani Green Energy Limited (AGEL) is an Indian renewable energy company, headquartered in Ahmedabad, India. It is majority-owned by Indian conglomerate Adani Group and minority-owned by TotalEnergies. The company operates Kamuthi Solar Power Project, one of the largest solar photovoltaic plants in the world.
Adani Energy Solutions Ltd, formerly known as Adani Transmission Ltd, is an electric power transmission company headquartered in Ahmedabad. Currently, it is one of the largest private sector power transmission companies operating in India. As of July 2020, the company operates a cumulative network of 12,200 circuit kilometers, and more than 3,200 circuit kilometers are under various stages of construction.
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