Allegations of corporate espionage obviously do not get the Indian media all a-twitter, although far less significant events get their day under the media spotlight. That is why, although every newspaper reported the arrest of one Prashant Indulkar, an employee of Tata-owned VSNL and published his allegation that a Reliance Infocomm executive had paid him Rs 40,000 for crucial information related to VSNL's board meeting, the reports were bereft of hype. In this case, the Reliance executive, who has denied the allegation, had worked closely with the Tatas as an employee of a public relations firm that it employs.

The reason why espionage in its various forms rarely makes news is the paucity of official complainants and difficulty in getting concrete proof. That is because companies simply don't want their dirt splashed across the media. For instance, the Tatas themselves took no public action in a case, where this paper provided clear evidence that a company was supplying inferior raw material by forging bills and invoices of a better-known company. Instead, they buried the fraud angle and said they were satisfied with the quality of raw material supplied. Interestingly, the company whose bills and invoices were forged, did not take up the issue either. The guiding factor may have been -- 'we are like that only'.

Indian business, especially those connected with the capital market often take pride in "breaking" (phodna) a key person in an organisation to obtain a steady leak of information. They are constantly on the lookout for weak-links or susceptible employees who will be willing to trade/leak information for a price. Such businessmen especially target those employed at regulatory agencies, or in systems and surveillance departments of stock exchanges, at central banks, and in corporate finance departments. Several years ago, National Stock Exchange had asked three employees to quit for leaking sensitive information to dubious brokers. But it did not sack them or file a police complaint for want of adequate proof.

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