A proportion of employees in India have few misgivings about lying over holidays, bribing and conducting personal business in the workplace, a study has claimed.

Over half of those polled considered making false promises, illegitimately obtaining competitor's details and avoiding expense declaration to be acceptable at work.

A further 46.8 per cent believed it was OK to make personal calls from work and 45 per cent had no qualms about signing into work late.

The poll was fourth in an overall series conducted by leading staffing company TeamLease in an attempt to monitor changing trends in workplace ethics and practices.

General manager of permanent staffing for TeamLease, Surabhi Mathur said: "The acceptable code of conduct in corporate India is morphing from the dogmatic thought police […] to a more fluid situation that accepts diversity, relativity and materiality."

Corruption is a hot topic in India at present, with politicians facing allegations of bribery following a lapse in the popularity of current prime minister Manmohan Singh, the Guardian recently reported.