The relevant draft on amendments to the Law on Combating Corruption(Prevention of Corruption Act 1988), developed in connection with the country's accession to the UN Convention against Corruption in 2011, was submitted back in 2013.

The updated Act, in particular, establishes liability for bribing a public official. Previously, in India, liability was provided only for passive bribery (Article 7 of the Act), and prosecution of bribe-givers was possible only in the context of incitement to commit an offence (Chapter V of the Indian Penal Code). The Act now provides for imprisonment and/or a fine for promising or giving an "undue advantage" to induce a public official to perform improperly or rewarding improper performance.

The term "undue advantage" replaces the term "valuable thing" used earlier in the bribery articles of the Law, but there is no interpretation of this concept in the Law. At the same time, the experts note that the absence in the Law of a definition of "improper discharge of official duties" ("improper discharge of official duties") is not a reason to believe that such "undue advantages" include any material payments, including payments for the simplification of formalities. At the same time, the experts note that the absence of a definition of "improper discharge of official duties" ("improper discharge of official duties").

In connection with establishing liability for bribery, the Law also provides for the possibility of prosecuting commercial organizations if persons associated with the organization provide or promise to provide an undue advantage to an official in order to obtain or retain business opportunities or business advantages for the organization (article 9 of the Law).

In this regard, "business organizations" are defined as:

• Organizations registered in India and carrying on business within or outside India;
• organizations registered in other countries but carrying on their business, wholly or partly, in India;
• partnerships or other associations formed in India and carrying on business in India or elsewhere;
• partnerships or associations incorporated in other countries but carrying on business wholly or partly in India.

Related persons" means persons acting for or on behalf of the organization: employees of the organization, its agents, subsidiaries.

In addition, if an organization is found by a court to have committed the offence, the directors, managers, secretaries and other executives of the organization, with whose consent or connivance the commission of the offences was made possible, will also be liable to a fine. These persons will face imprisonment of 3 to 7 years and a fine (section 10 of the Act).

At the same time, the Act provides for the possibility of exemption from liability for both legal and natural persons.

Thus, Article 9 of the Act provides that a commercial organization that has demonstrated that it has adopted appropriate compliance procedures, as set out in the relevant governing documents, to prevent related persons from committing corruption offenses shall not be held liable. Requirements for compliance programs that will meet the conditions for exemption from liability must be approved by the Indian government (currently there are no such requirements).

The Act also introduces an exemption from liability for bribery for individuals where a bribe has been solicited and the individual has reported it to the relevant authorities within 7 days of the bribe being paid, but the Act does not apply to situations where the bribe was paid to assist law enforcement or investigative authorities ("bribe solicitation").