The Forum of Free Enterprise is a non-political organization founded in 1956 by A. D. Shroff, and has been established to educate public opinion in India on free enterprise and a democratic way of life. The Forum publishes booklets to further its objects. The following booklet is titled “Ethics in Business, Industry and Public Life” was published in June 1999 and was authored by N. Vittal I.A.S. (Retd). This booklet is a textual representation of the tenth Bhogilal Leherchand Memorial Lecture delivered by the author in Mumbai on January 8th, 1999. The author discusses corruption and ethics in public life. The author highlights the importance of the central vigilance commission. The author discusses the causes of corruption. The author elucidates the Corrupt Public Servants (Forfeiture of Property) Act 1999, and states “If such an act is enacted by the government quickly, it should be possible to bring the culprits to book and make corruption in our country a high-risk activity which automatically will ensure that there is less corruption”. The author concludes with the view that if we want to improve the level of ethics in our society. Initiatives have to be taken and system changes have to be brought in a number of areas if we have to succeed.