Factbox: Top 10 buyers of India's electoral bonds to fund political parties

RPSG Ventures

15/03/2024 12:04

MUMBAI, March 15 (Reuters) - Some of India's biggest
companies were among the country's top political funders over
the last five years under a now-scrapped opaque political
funding system, official data showed.
    Under the system, a person or company could buy so-called
electoral bonds from government-owned State Bank of India and
donate them to a political party. 
    Following are the top 10 buyers of the bonds, according to
official data:
    
    
    1. Future Gaming and Hotel Services - the lottery and gaming
firm topped the list with a total donation of 13.68 billion
Indian rupees ($165 million) between April 2019 and January
2024. 
    Based in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, the company,
previously known as Martin Lottery Agencies, also has interests
in real estate and construction businesses with annual revenues
of over $2 billion, its website says. The company is headed by
Santiago Martin, also known as the "Lottery King" of India.
According to the firm's website, Martin has been India's highest
income tax payer for several years.
    
    2. Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Ltd - the
Hyderabad-based engineering and construction firm came second by
buying bonds worth 9.66 billion rupees. Its subsidiary, Western
UP Power Transmission, also bought electoral bonds worth 2.2
billion rupees. 
    Specialists in building all-weather tunnels and high-speed
rail infrastructure, the firm counts the Zojila Road tunnel in
the Himalayas and other top government projects among its
landmark ventures.
    
    3. Qwik Supply Chain Private Ltd - The Mumbai-based company
specialises in providing logistics, warehousing and manpower
support services and bought bonds worth 4.1 billion rupees.
    
    4. Vedanta Ltd  VDAN.NS  - The metals and mining
conglomerate, led by billionaire Anil Agarwal, donated 4.01
billion rupees. Agarwal tried unsuccessfully to take Vedanta
Ltd, a unit of UK-based Vedanta Resources, private in 2020 and
his latest plan was to split the company into six.
    
    5. Haldia Energy Ltd - A unit of the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group
 RPSG.NS , Haldia Energy runs a thermal power plant in the port
city of Haldia in West Bengal state and bought electoral bonds
worth 3.77 billion rupees.
    Goenka also owns the Lucknow franchise in the popular Indian
Premier League cricket tournament and the Kolkata-based Mohun
Bagan football club in the Indian Super League.
    
    6. Essel Mining and Industries Ltd - the company, which
donated 2.25 billion rupees, is one of India's largest private
coal miners and is part of the telecom-to-metals conglomerate
Aditya Birla Group.
    
    7. Western UP Power Transmission Co Ltd - WUPPTCL, which
bought bonds worth 2.2 billion rupees, is one of India's largest
power transmission projects built by Megha Engineering and
Infrastructures Ltd.
    
    8. Bharti Airtel Ltd  BRTI.NS  - India's No. 2 telecom
carrier by subscribers bought electoral bonds worth 1.98 billion
rupees.
    
    9. Keventer Food park Infra Ltd - The Kolkata-based firm 
bought bonds worth 1.95 billion rupees. The company is in the
food and dairy-based beverages sector and exports pulp and
agricultural products.
    
    10. MKJ Enterprises Ltd - Another Kolkata-based firm, MKJ
Enterprises deals in the steel business and bought bonds worth
1.92 billion rupees.

($1 = 82.8638 Indian rupees)

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Top buyers of India's Electoral Bonds    https://reut.rs/3veYx1t
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 (Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly; Editing by YP Rajesh and Susan
Fenton)
 ((sudipto.ganguly@thomsonreuters.com;))