'Had to pay Rs 5,000 for marriage certificate': Ex-Capillary SVP exposes everyday bribe culture

A former senior executive at a technology firm on Sunday alleged widespread corruption in routine public services, saying officials demand bribes even for basic paperwork. In a detailed post on X, Piyush Goel, who served as Senior Vice President at Capillary Tech, recounted how he was asked for unofficial payments while seeking an electricity transfer, a gas connection, and even while registering his marriage.

"Last year, I had to get an electricity connection moved to a new name and I refused to apply through an agent and hence, no bribe. I was made to run from pillar to post for a week to get it done," Goel wrote. "When it finally got approved, the ‘babu’ had the gumption to say, if you had come via an agent, it would have been done in a day." 

He described another episode with a gas agency: "Had to apply for a gas connection to an INDANE outlet, they charged INR 300 as ‘processing fee’ for which no receipt was provided. On refusal, the application was redirected to another center." 

Goel said the pattern repeated when he and his wife registered their marriage: He said all the documents were in order and as prescribed on the website. But he still "had to pay INR 5K for the ‘babu’ to ‘approve’ our application and generate the certificate". "I paid and got it done within minutes. The lawyer who was assisting us suggested not to refuse, else random objections will come, and you’ll have to go through the process several times."

The tech executive said that the government officials continue to harass because they know they can, "they know there's no accountability, they know there is no functioning ombudsman's office to lodge an official complaint, they know their superiors are waiting for their cut and hence, nothing is gonna happen to anyone. It's in no administrative officer's interest to provide 'corruption free' services to the citizens."

Goel's post came in response to a scathing commentary by Dinesh Wadera, a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), who wrote that "corruption isn’t just a problem, it is the biggest business." Wadera alleged that every layer of governance — from local contracts to billion-dollar tenders — is entangled in systemic corruption.

"This is not random chaos, it is a perfectly choreographed game of chess," he wrote. "The board is the nation, and the players are businessmen, accountants, bureaucrats, police, politicians, ministers, religious ashrams, judges, media barons, chief ministers, and above them all, the king." 

He claimed corruption operates on "collection goals" across departments and has been "institutionalized, legalized in practice if not in law." "Citizens have not merely elected leaders, they have elected corruption," Wadera wrote.

In the last few days, hundreds of people commented about bribery culture in India. They shared their stories after Tamil Nadu-based firm Wintrack Inc announced it was shutting down its import/export operations in India due to alleged bribery and "relentless harassment by Chennai Customs."