Corporate giants donated a whooping ₹2,262 crore to THESE political parties in FY24. Guess who took the lion’s share?

Five national political parties in India, including the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the opposition Congress, received donations of ₹2262.5 crore from 3755 corporate contributions in the 2023-24 financial year.

According to an analysis by the election watchdog Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), this is about 89 per cent of the total donations received by these parties in FY 2023-24. The rest of the amount in ₹270.8 crore came through individual donors, the report said.

There are six national parties in India. Apart from the Congress party, the other national parties are the Aam Aadmi Party(AAP), the National People's Party (NPEP), the Communist Party of India M) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).

The ADR analysed donations of ₹20,000 or more in 2023-24, as mentioned in reports submitted by these political parties to the Election Commission of India (ECI). The BSP has declared it did not receive any donations above ₹20,000 during FY 2023-24, as it has been declaring for the past 18 years.

While 3755 donations to the national parties made by corporate sectors amount to ₹2262.5 crore (88.9 per cent of total donations), 8493 individual donors donated ₹270.8 crore (10.6 per cent of total donations) to these parties during FY 2023-24, the ADR report said.

BJP got the lion's share

Of the total corporate donations, the BJP got ₹2064.58 crore through 3478 donations in FY 2023-24. The saffron party received ₹169.126 crore through 4628 individual donors in FY 2023-24.

BJP's corporate donation ( ₹2064.58) is about nine times ₹197.9 crore of corporate donations declared by all other national parties for the FY 2023-24.

The Congress received a total of ₹190.3263 crore via 102 donations from corporate/business sectors and ₹90.899 cr via 1882 individual donors during FY 2023-24, the report said.

Overall, the BJP received donations to the tune of ₹2,243.947 crore in amounts of ₹20,000 or more in 2023-24. The donation is about seven times the collection by the Congress party in the same year.

Remember, 2024 was the year of Lok Sabha Elections. The election was held in seven phases from April 19 to June 1.

Even in 2022-23, the BJP received nearly 90 per cent of all corporate donations worth ₹680.49 crore that five national parties together gathered.

Tax deductions through political donations

Under the Income Tax Act, 1961, taxpayers, including Indian companies, firms, individuals, and Hindu Undivided Families (HUFs), are allowed to claim deductions for donations made to political parties.

These include donations made through cheques and account transfers. As per Section 80GGB of the I-T Act, 1961, corporate taxpayers can claim deductions for donations made to political parties. A similar benefit is available to individual taxpayers under Section 80GGC

In February last year, the Supreme Court scrapped ‘Electoral Bond Scheme’ that allowed anonymous funding to political parties. However, this did not stop corporate funding to political parties.

The BJP received ₹1,685.6 crore through electoral bonds in FY 2023-24. This was the highest ever annual income or receipts from bonds declared by any party and about 38 per cent of BJP's total income of ₹4,340 crore as on March 31 in FY 2023-24.

Who are the top donors in FY 2023-24?

As per the ADR report, Prudent Electoral Trust donated a total of ₹880.0775 crore to the BJP and the Congress together. The Trust donated ₹723.675 crore to BJP (32.25 per cent of total funds received by the party) and ₹156.4025 crore to the Congress (55.56 per cent of total funds received by the party).

The contributions to Prudent Electoral Trust in 2023-24 include from Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Limited, Bharti Airtel Ltd, RPSG Ventures Limited, GMR Hospitality and Retail Ltd, TVS Motor Company Ltd, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, among others, as per Electoral Trust Reports dated October 2024, as available on Election Commission of India website.

Among other top donors, the Triumph Electoral Trust donated ₹127.50 crore to the BJP while Derive Investments donated ₹50 cr to BJP and ₹3.20 crore to the Congress party.

Acme Solar Energy Pvt. Ltd. donated ₹51 crore , Bharat Biotech International Limited donated ₹50 crore, Rungta Sons Private Limited donated ₹50 crore, and Dinesh Chandra R Agarwal Infracon Pvt. Ltd. donated ₹30 crore through to the BJP in FY 2023-24