Electoral bonds: 33 loss-making firms donated Rs 582 crore, 75% went to BJP, says report

Thirty-three companies that recorded losses or no profit over a seven-year period donated a total of Rs 581.7 crore through electoral bonds, of which Rs 434.2 crore was encashed by the Bharatiya Janata Party, an analysis by The Hindu and an independent research team has revealed.

In all, the analysis casts suspicions on the sources of funding of at least 45 companies that bought electoral bonds despite recording losses or no profit between the financial years 2016-’17 and 2022-’23. These 45 companies have been organised into four categories: A, B, C and D.

Companies in Category A and B made significant donations through electoral bonds despite the absence of profits. The net losses of the 33 companies that donated Rs 576.2 crore – Category A – over a seven-year period stood at over Rs 1 lakh crore, with 16 of them, including Bharti Airtel and Piramal Capital and Housing Finance Limited paying zero or negative direct taxes in aggregate, The Hindu reported.

Another six companies – Category B – donated a total of Rs 646 crore, of which Rs 601 crore was encashed by the BJP. These companies bought electoral bonds worth more than their aggregate net profits. They include the Reliance Group-linked Qwik Supply Chain Private Limited (which purchased bonds worth Rs 410 crore) and...

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