A widening corruption scandal that has touched India’s prime minister sent the country’s stock markets down sharply on Friday and threatened to tarnish the country’s image as a rising economic power. Setting off the turmoil was a report from the country’s auditor earlier this week that about $40 billion in wireless spectrum license fees had been squandered by the government’s telecommunications and information technology minister. On Thursday, India’s Supreme Court criticized...

Ratan Tata, chairman of the Tata group, plans to move the Supreme Court against publication of conversations he had with Niira Radia, the corporate lobbyist. The recent publication of transcripts of conversations intercepted by the security agencies between Radia and well-known businessmen like Tata, editors and politicians has blown the lid off tapping phones in India. Rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa reveals how you can know if your phone is being tapped. Nearly 6,000 phones...

Indian federal investigators have announced an inquiry into 21 companies in connection with a banking loans scandal. Eight bankers have already been arrested this week, including senior executives of top state banks, accused of taking bribes to sign off loans. The Bombay Stock Exchange fell by 1% as a result of the inquiry, analysts said. The investigation is the latest in a series of corruption scandals to hit the country. Those arrested on Wednesday...

NIIRA RADIA — owner of PR company Vaishnavi Communications, among others — is not merely a fixer in the old sense of the word. She is a thermometer reading for a very ill society. In April this year, a clutch of mysterious documents had made their way to several media houses. At face value the documents seemed a synopsis of phone conversations between Niira — a powerful lobbyist for Mukesh...

An all-party meeting in India has failed to break a parliamentary deadlock over opposition demands for an inquiry into an alleged telecoms scam. Parliament has been adjourned for two weeks because of the stand-off. Telecommunications minister A Raja quit last week, denying claims that he had undersold mobile phone licences by billions of dollars. The government has ruled out a joint inquiry, saying "impartial" agencies were already investigating. Correspondents say the widening scandal involving...