As Indians, we love to loathe ourselves. In every possible way. But we're good. At a lot of things. Corruption, for one and now, we've been crowned the best shoplifters. Take a bow! Seriously... it's not as easy as you think. Especially considering how most new shops and malls have cameras constantly looking at you.

And to make sure we aren't doing the crowning ourselves, the laurels are being conferred upon us by a foreign agency. According to the Global Retail Theft Barometer 2009 Survey, (they looked at retail businesses in 41 countries to bring us the pride), India has earned the numero uno spot with a 3.2% shrinkage rate. It is the highest in nine countries surveyed in Asia-Pacific and the approximate financial damage to Indian companies amounts to Rs. 33 crore a day. But hey, their loss is your gain right?

So all you shoplifters are worth Rs. 33 crore? We would love to know the profiles of the shoplifters.

Oh, and for the record, employees at stores are also part of the whole racket. They account for over 20% of the losses! Sounds uncannily like insider trading.