Cash is still king for Indian youth, especially for biz

Demonetisation, which aimed at hitting out at the cash element in the economy to curb corruption and black money, has had a mixed impact, according to the the EY Fraud Survey 2017.

While a majority of the respondents in EY’s Europe, Middle East, India and Africa (EMEIA) Fraud Survey support the stance taken by regulators and the government to curb corruption and bribery, the youth is still willing to make payments in cash to help their businesses survive.

“One of out of every four of generation Y (25-34 years old) could justify offering cash payments to win or retain business,” said the EY survey.

In India, however, 32% of youth are willing to deal in cash to help businesses survive.

The survey was conducted between November 2016 and January 2017, the period when India was going through the demonetisation exercise .

A huge 73% of youth feels that unethical action can be justified to help a business survive, adds the EY survey.

Unethical behaviour at the workplace has become a serious concern for corporate India as employees refuse to report fraud, bribery and corruption to enhance career prospects, the report suggests.

“There is also a sense in youth that their colleagues are willing to act unethically to better their careers,” said Arpinder Singh, partner and national leader, Fraud Investigation & Dispute Services, Ernst & Young LLP. “This kind of tendency stems from the deep rooted belief that corruption is part of the society.”

The EY survey identified three reasons to justify unethical behaviour — uncertainties in the business environment, augmenting pressure to meet financial targets and aspirations to achieve unprecedented career growth.

Companies generally take to checking emails, call records, tracking social media profile as monitoring tools. 89% of people surveyed by EY consider this as a breach of privacy. “There needs to be a clear policy, to what extent a firm can monitor,” Singh said.

A huge 79% of participants in India said that prosecuting individuals would help deter fraud, bribery and corruption, while 78% said that bribery and corruption is widespread.