Values · Sub-pillar 6.3
Trust
The degree to which people trust one another, businesses and public institutions.
What is trust?
Trust is sub-pillar 6.3 of the 47 BH framework for a developed Bharat by 2047, the third of six sub-pillars under the Values pillar. It asks how far people trust one another, the businesses they deal with and the institutions that govern them, because trust makes cooperation cheaper in every part of life, from a handshake deal to a court order.
Why it matters for 2047
Trust is the invisible infrastructure. Where people trust strangers, contracts are short, deals are quick and a stranger's word is worth something; where they do not, every transaction needs a guarantor, a lawyer or a bribe. Economists find that societies with more trust grow faster and govern themselves more cheaply.
Trust in institutions is what lets a democracy absorb a loss. A citizen who trusts the courts accepts a verdict against him; a voter who trusts the election accepts defeat. When that trust drains away, every decision becomes a fight and every institution a suspect.
India's pattern is unusual. Surveys find Indians among the most trusting people in the world towards one another, and deeply trusting of the armed forces and the higher courts, yet far less trusting of the police, the press and politics. Which of those readings is right, and whether the gap is closing, is what this sub-pillar tracks.
Where India stands
- 56%
of Indian respondents said most people can be trusted, the highest share among 30 countries surveyed by Ipsos in 2022 and nearly twice the 30-country average of 30%. The survey was online and, in India, reached a more urban and educated group than the population.[1]
- 56%
of urban Indians said they trusted the defence forces in March 2025, the most trusted institution, followed by the Reserve Bank (52%) and the Supreme Court (49%); the police were trusted by 37%, the media by 35%, political parties by 34% and politicians by 33%, in Ipsos India's survey of 2,200 adults.[2]
- 4.8%
was the net trust in government officials (the share with a great deal of trust minus the share with none) in a 2018 study of 16,680 people by Azim Premji University and Lokniti-CSDS, against about 77% for the military and 54.8% for the Supreme Court; political parties scored below zero.[3]
- 39%
of Indian online news users said they trust most news most of the time in 2026, the lowest level in the eleven years the Reuters Institute has surveyed India and close to the global average of 37%.[4]
Indians trust each other, and they trust the institutions that stay out of politics. On the one international survey that asks the question regularly, India reports among the highest levels of interpersonal trust in the world, and the armed forces, the central bank and the Supreme Court draw the highest institutional trust in every study. [1][2][3]
Trust falls as institutions come closer to daily life and to politics. The police, the press, political parties and politicians sit at the bottom of every survey, and trust in news has drifted to its lowest in a decade. [2][3][4] In the largest academic study, trust in the officials who actually deliver services was close to zero once the distrustful were netted off. [3]
A note on the numbers: there is no official Indian measure of trust, so every figure here comes from a private or academic survey and should be read with its sample in mind; the Ipsos surveys are online or urban and over-represent the educated; the Azim Premji-Lokniti study is large and face-to-face but from 2018; the Reuters sample is English-speaking online users. The World Values Survey, the long-run academic benchmark, includes India, and 47 BH will add its figure when the current wave is published.
On the 47 BH report card
Every 15 August, 47 BH reports how far India has come on each sub-pillar. For this sub-pillar, the headline indicators are:
- Share of people who say most people can be trusted (World Values Survey; Ipsos).
- Trust in the police, courts, Election Commission, media and political parties (Lokniti-CSDS; Ipsos India).
- Trust in news (Reuters Institute Digital News Report).
- Trust in business and in digital transactions (a national survey, to be sourced).
Two lenses on trust
City and village
47 BH asks whether trust is the same in a village where everyone is known and a city where no one is. Village trust is personal and backed by community; city trust must be institutional, resting on the police, the courts and the contract, which is exactly where India's surveys find it weakest.
Learn, avoid, protect
- Learn
- What can India learn from countries that rebuilt trust in the police through local accountability, that made courts fast enough to be worth trusting, and that kept the institutions of the state visibly separate from the parties of the day?
- Avoid
- Which mistakes should it avoid, such as spending the trust in the army and the courts on political ends, letting institutions become identified with whoever holds power, or treating low trust in the police as a public relations problem rather than a performance one?
- Protect
- What of its own should it protect, such as the high everyday trust between strangers that surveys find, the reputation for independence that the Election Commission, the Reserve Bank and the higher judiciary have built over decades, and the community institutions that make rural trust possible?
What this sub-pillar does not cover
Each topic has one home in the framework. These related topics sit elsewhere:
- The independence of courts, regulators and other institutions: Governance: Institutions and citizens' rights
- Policing and the justice system: Governance: Safety and justice
- Misinformation and the quality of debate: Values: Public discourse
- Honesty and corruption: Values: Personal integrity
- Whether communities hold together: Family and Society: Community and belonging
Questions about trust
Do Indians trust each other?
By international standards, yes: 56% of Indian respondents told Ipsos in 2022 that most people can be trusted, the highest of 30 countries, against a 30% average, though the online sample over-represents urban and educated Indians. [1]
Which institutions do Indians trust most?
The defence forces (56%), the Reserve Bank (52%) and the Supreme Court (49%), according to Ipsos India's March 2025 survey of 2,200 urban adults; the police (37%), media (35%), political parties (34%) and politicians (33%) were trusted least. A 2018 Azim Premji University-Lokniti study of 16,680 people found the same order. [2][3]
How much do Indians trust the news?
39% of online news users trust most news most of the time, the lowest in the eleven years the Reuters Institute has surveyed India, and close to the global average of 37%. [4]
Is there an official measure of trust in India?
No. Every figure here comes from private or academic surveys with different samples and methods, which is why 47 BH reports them side by side with their sample described.
Why is trust a development question?
Because it sets the price of everything else. A country where people trust strangers, contracts and courts spends less on guards, lawyers and middlemen and more on building, and a country that loses that trust pays for the loss in every transaction.
Sources
- Ipsos, "Global Advisor: Interpersonal Trust 2022", 30 countries, fieldwork February to March 2022; India results as published by Ipsos India. https://www.ipsos.com/en-in/node/882236
- Ipsos India, "IndiaBus Trust in Institutions Survey", March 2025 wave, 2,200 urban adults; published 25 March 2025. https://www.ipsos.com/en-in/node/1043701
- Azim Premji University and Lokniti-CSDS, "Politics and Society between Elections" study of 16,680 respondents in eight states, 2018; trust findings as reported by Sabrang India, 16 July 2018. https://sabrangindia.in/indians-trust-military-most-govt-officials-political-parties-least/
- Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, University of Oxford, "Digital News Report 2026", India launch, June 2026. Sample: mainly English-speaking online news users. https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/news/alarm-bells-are-ringing-my-brain-our-digital-news-report-india-launch-panel-low-trust-and
47 BH cites every figure so that it can be checked. If you find an error, it will be corrected openly and the date below will change.