It took nearly five decades, but India's parliament this week finally approved tough new anti-corruption legislation. Intended to ferret out rampant graft across industries, the Jan Lokpal bill, calls for the creation of a national ombudsman's office and state-level agencies to investigate and prosecute allegations of government officials and workers receiving bribes. Whistleblower protections are also included.

Variations of the bill have come and gone since 1966, including a 2011 version that finally earned a deciding parliamentary vote this week. Its current resurgence is largely credited to hunger strikes by social activist Anna Hazare and large-scale public protests. The legislation isn't final just yet. It still must be signed by Indian President Pranab Mukherjee, a final approval that is expected to take place soon.

Also referred to as the “Prevention of Bribery of Foreign Public Officials and Officials of Public International Organizations” bill, the legislation is considered to be India's version of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

Under the proposed law, any person “holding a legislative, executive, administrative, or judicial office of a foreign country” who accepts or gives a bribe to secure a contract in India could face fines and up to seven years in prison. The law additionally would criminalize the offense of abetting bribery.

Getting most projects completed in India often requires going through government officials. In fact, many companies seem to disagree on whether it's even possible to do business in India without paying a bribe. According to KPMG's 2012 “India Fraud Survey,” only 50 percent of respondents said business can be done in India without paying bribes; 71 percent said bribery and corruption caused a “significant risk to their organization.”

Last month, India was ranked 94th out of 177 countries on Transparency International's 2013 global corruption index. Its score and ranking put it behind such perceived corruption hotspots as China, Greece, Brazil, and Cuba.