According to Pratyush Sinha, who stepped down as India's Central Vigilance Commissioner on Monday, only 20 per cent of the country's people are steadfastly honest, while he describes the remaining 50 per cent more than half a billion people as "borderline". His comments, made in an interview with the financial newspaper Mint, highlight the scale of corruption and the extent to which it is institutionalised. It also amounts to a challenge to countries such as Britain, who want to increase trade with India. Mr Sinha said his greatest concern was that corruption had gained a "social acceptance" in India. "Society is no longer seriously concerned about corruption and there is social acceptance. When we were growing up I remember that if someone was corrupt they were generally looked down upon. There was at least some social stigma about it. That is gone," he said. Despite the rise of whistle-blowers, an assertive press and right-to-information legislation, too many in India care more about wealth than honesty. "If someone has a lot of money, he is respectable. No one questions by what means he has got the money," he said. India's slow courts, lengthy appeals process and liberal bail policies meant that only 4 per cent of those convicted for corruption served a jail sentence, he said. His comments reinforce concerns expressed by Transparency International, which has ranked India close to African countries such as Rwanda in the Corruption Perception Index. Its surveys in India reveal high levels of concern by ordinary people about the scale of political corruption. A number of senior politicians have been embroiled in embezzlement scandals involving public funds and accepting bribes on major contracts. Vir Sanghvi, a leading Indian commentator, last night said the outgoing commissioner's comments reflected growing concern as well as hypocrisy. "Concern about corruption is rising but when it comes to stigmatising friends you know to be corrupt, it doesn't exist," he said. "We used to think it was a function of scarcity if there were no seats on the plane, you bribed someone. But now it's an economy of plenty yet corruption has increased," he added.