3,346 bonds go missing in SBI files?

Hyderabad: The Election Commission of India on Thursday uploaded two sets of documents shared to it by the State Bank of India revealing the purchase and encashment of electoral bonds between April 12, 2019 and January 11, 2024.

One document reveals the purchase of electoral bonds by companies and another reveals encashment of those bonds by political parties.

According to these documents, there were 18,871 transactions of purchase worth over Rs 12,155.51 crore (Rs 1,21,55,51,32,000) made by companies during this period, while 20,422 transactions worth Rs 12,769.08 crore (Rs 1,27,69,08,93,000) were recorded against political parties towards encashment.

However, the State Bank of India through its counsel informed the Supreme Court, during the hearing of its petition seeking more time to comply with the court’s February 15 order, that “a total of 22,217 bonds were purchased between 12 April 2019 to 15 February 2024.”

The SBI further informed the Supreme Court that the purchase and encashment “would cumulatively add up to 44,434 data sets since there are two silos of information.”

However, the purchase document that the Election Commission of India uploaded on its website shows 18,871 transactions of purchase of electoral bonds as against the 22,217 that the SBI counsel submitted to the Supreme Court on March 11, 2024. The document shows 3,346 transactions less than the number submitted to the Supreme Court by the SBI.

Cumulatively, the total number of transactions for purchase and encashment, according to two documents uploaded by the ECI, is 39,293 as against 44,434 as informed by the SBI to the Supreme Court.

Denomination-wise break-up

According to the SBI disclosure, the electoral bond worth Rs 1 crore appears to be the most favourite of political donors. During the period between April 12, 2019 and January 11, 2024, SBI sold 11,671 bonds of Rs 1 crore each, 4,620 bonds of Rs 10 lakh each, 2,228 bonds of Rs 1 lakh each, 220 bonds of Rs 10,000 each and 132 bonds of Rs 1,000 each.

Company-wise break-up

An analysis of the SBI disclosure revealed that 1,258 entities, which include both corporates as well as individuals, have donated around Rs 12,100 crore to political parties. Of these, 21 companies donated more than Rs 100 crore.

The highest donor is Future Gaming and Hotel Services with Rs 1308 crore, followed by Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Rs 966 crore, Qwik Supply Chain 410, Vedanta 400.65 crore, Haldia Energy 377 crore, Essel Mining and Industries 224.50 crore, Western UP Power Transmission Company Rs 220 crore, Bharti Airtel Rs 198 crore, Keventer Foodpark Infra Rs 195 crore, MKJ Enterprises Rs 192.42 crore, Madanlal Ltd Rs 185.50 crore, Yashoda Super Speciality Hospital Rs 162 crore, Utkal Alumina International Rs 145.30 crore, DLF Commercial Developers Rs 130 crore, Jindal Steel and Power Rs 123 crore B G Shirke Construction Technology Rs 117 crore Dhariwal Infrastructure Rs 115 crore Birla Carbon India Rs 105 crore Chennai Green Woods Rs 105 crore Rungta Sons Rs 100 crore.