Who funds India’s richest electoral trusts? Companies and contributions backing BJP, Congress revealed

About 90 per cent of donations to political parties in 2023-24 were made by corporates. The rest were by individual donors, a new report has revealed.

The six national political parties of India received donations from corporates amounting to ₹2262.5 crore (88.9271 per cent of total donations) in 2023-24, according to analysis by election watchdog, Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).

The rest of the donations through individual donors was to the tune of ₹270.8 crore in the same fiscal, according to the report.

The BJP got ₹2064.58 crore as corporate donations and ₹169.12 crore as individual donations. The Congress received ₹190.3 crore as corporate donations and ₹90.8 crore as individual donations last year, the report said.

Corporate Donors List

Prudent Electoral Trust donated about ₹880 Crore to national political parties in 2023-24. The Trust donated ₹723.6 crore to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and ₹156.4 crore to the Congress party.

Among the top 10 contributions to the BJP in 2023-24, seven were from Prudent Trust, while the others were from Bharat Biotech International Limited, Rungta Sons Private Limited and ITC Infratech India Ltd.

For the Congress party, too, among the top 10 donors last year, 9 top contributions were from the Prudent Trust, while the last one was by P Sujith Reddy.

Triumph Electoral Trust was the second-highest donor to the national political parties, with contributions worth ₹127. 5 crore, all of which were donated to the BJP.

Derive Investments, Acme Solar Energy Pvt Ltd, Bharat Biotech International Limited, Rungta Sons Privat Limited and Dinesh Chandra R Agarwal Infracon Pvt Ltd and Macrotech Developers Limited are among other top donors

After the Supreme Court scrapped the electoral bond in February 2024, donations to political parties increased through electoral trusts, according to the electoral trust contribution reports available on the website of the Election Commission of India (ECI).

Companies Funding Prudent Electoral Trust

Prudent Electoral Trust is the richest electoral trust in the country. About 90 per cent of the corporate donations to political parties come through this Trust, which was earlier known as Satya Electoral Trust.

The Trust has been one of the biggest funders of the BJP since 2013-14. It used to fund Congress as well, but the share has declined over the years.

About three-fourths of the donations to the Prudent Electoral Trust were made after the Supreme Court’s decision scrapping the Electoral Bond scheme on February 15, according to reports. Out of ₹1,075.7 crore donated to the trust, ₹797.1 crore was received following the court’s ruling, a report in the Indian Express said in January this year.

The top contributors to the Prudent Electoral Trust in the financial year 2023-24 as per the electoral trust contribution reports available on the Election Commission of India (ECI) website, include:

-ArcelorMittal Nippon: ₹100 crore.

-Maatha Projects: ₹75 crore.

-Maruti Suzuki: ₹60 crore.

Among other major contributors to the Prudent Electoral Trust are:

-Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Ltd.

-GMR Air Cargo and Aerospace Engg Ltd.

-Delhi Duty-Free Service Pvt Ltd.

Companies Funding Triumph Electoral Trust

Triumph Electoral Trust has emerged as the second biggest political donor. The top contributors to Trimph Electoral Trust, as per the electoral trust contribution reports available on the Election Commission of India (ECI) website, are:

-Cholamandalam Investment: ₹50 crore.

-CG Power Industrial: ₹30 crore.

-Coromandel International: ₹25.5 crore.

The other contributors to Triumph Electoral Trust are:

-EID Parry India Limited.

-Tube Investments of India Limited.