China just jailed a corrupt billionaire for life. Could that ever be possible in India?

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Hui Ka Yan was once China’s richest person. On August 20, the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court sentenced him to life in prison for bribery, swindling public funds and fraud, among other charges. The order also confiscated all of Yan’s personal property, levied fines of more than $2 billion on corporations once controlled by him and sentenced five other senior executives, including Hui’s two sons, to prison terms ranging from six to 18 years.

A week later, a tribunal in India passed an order on another disgraced billionaire. Unlike China, though, India was much softer. Zee TV founder Subhash Chandra owed his creditors, including state-owned firms, Rs 22,007 crore ($2.3 billion). But the National Company Law Tribunal approved a plan that allows Chandra to pay back only a little more than Rs 6 crore – 0.03% of what he owed.

Angry creditors say there are infirmities in the process, alleging links between people voting for this plan and Chandra. They also claim that Chandra has managed to significantly...

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