BJP redeemed 81% of electoral bonds purchased by Nifty, Sensex companies

Among the companies that bought electoral bonds starting April 2019, there are 15 listed in the Nifty 50 index, of whom eight are also listed in the BSE Sensex, as per the data published by the State Bank of India (SBI) and the Election Commission on Thursday.

The 15 Nifty 50-listed companies account for total redeemed electoral bonds worth Rs 646 crore, while the Sensex-listed companies among them account for nearly half, that is Rs 337 crore. The BJP alone redeemed bonds worth Rs 521 crore bought by the 15 companies, or 81% of the total.

The Nifty 50 represents an average of the 50 biggest companies listed on the National Stock Exchange. The Sensex is a similar index that represents 30 of the largest companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange. The companies on these indices represent key sectors across the Indian economy.

Of these 15 companies, as many as 13 donated to the BJP, while two (ITC and Tech Mahindra) made no donations to the ruling party at the Centre. Six companies only donated to the BJP.

The eight Sensex-listed companies which bought electoral bonds were Bharti Airtel, Ultra Tech Cement, Bajaj Finance, ITC, Mahindra & Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki, Sun Pharma and Tech Mahindra. Apart from them, seven additional companies in the Nifty list bought bonds, including Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, Divis Laboratories, Cipla, Grasim, Hero Motocorp, Bajaj Auto and UPL Limited.

Of the 15 Nifty companies, there are four each in the pharmaceuticals and automobile sectors, two cement manufacturers, one each in the telecommunications, financial services, chemicals and IT sectors, and ITC, which has a presence across multiple sectors from agriculture and FMCGs to hotels and IT.

The BJP got the biggest contributions from Bharti Airtel