Some of India's top bankers have been charged with taking bribes worth tens of millions of pounds.
Five officials from state-run companies were arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation for taking the bribes in order to make large loans more easily available.
Three senior executives from a private company were also arrested. They are accused of handing out the bribes.
The banking scandal is one of the biggest to taint India, potentially harming the image of Asia's third-largest economy as a destination for foreign investors.
It is individual personal greed, it is not systematic failure.
R Gopalan, government secretary for financial services
It comes a few days after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had to defend his Government in another scandal, involving telecoms licenses sold at rock-bottom prices.
Analysts, however, believe the scandals are unlikely to deter investors from India, one of the four key emerging markets in the world and a hot investment destination.
The Delhi government sought to play down the scandal, saying it was an isolated incident.
"It is individual personal greed, it is not systematic failure," said R Gopalan, secretary for financial services.
The CBI said those arrested included senior officials at state-run Central Bank of India, Punjab National Bank and Bank of India, all major banks with operations across the country.
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