At ₹6,074 crore, BJP funding surges 171% in FY25. Who are the top 10 donors?

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) received donations worth ₹6,074 crore in FY 2024-25, a new report by election watchdog Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) has revealed.

This amount is about a 171% increase from the ₹2,243 crore in political donations the saffron party received in FY 2023-24, the analysis said. The BJP’s declared donations are about ten times the aggregate declared donations of four other political parties, including the Congress, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the CPI(M) and the NPEP in FY 2024-25.

The ADR report, released on 26 March, focuses on donations of ₹20,000 or more received by national political parties during the financial year 2024-25, as per details submitted by the parties to the Election Commission of India (ECI). India’s national parties include Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress (INC), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M) and National People’s Party (NPEP).

While all parties have shared details of their donations to the poll panel, the BSP stated that it did not receive any donations above ₹20,000 during FY 2024-25, as it has been declaring for the past 19 years.

The political funding received by political parties in 2024-25 is significant as this was the first full year after the Electoral Bond scheme of political funding allowing anonymous donations was scrapped by Supreme Court of India in February 2024.

Electoral Trust is set up by multiple companies to distribute the contributions to the political parties.

Here are some of the highlights from the report

₹6648 crore from 11,343 donations

-The total donations (above ₹20,000) declared by the National parties for FY 2024-25 were ₹6648.563 cr from 11,343 donations.

-A total of ₹6074.015 cr from 5522 donations was declared by the BJP, followed by ₹517.394 cr from 2501 donations declared by the Congress party.

-The donations declared by the BJP are more than ten times the aggregate declared by Congress, AAP, CPI(M) and NPEP for the same period

-The total donations of the national political parties during FY 2024-25 increased by ₹4104.285 cr, an increase of 161% from the previous financial year 2023-24

-Donations to the BJP increased from ₹2,243.947 cr in FY 2023-24 to ₹6074.015 cr in FY 2024-25, marking a 171% increase. Similarly, donations to the Congress party rose from ₹281.48 cr in FY 2023-24 to ₹517.394 cr in FY 2024-25, reflecting an 84% increase.

-In comparison to the previous financial year, donations declared by AAP increased by 244% or ₹27.044 cr, while donations declared by NPEP increased by 1313% or ₹1.943 cr.

State-wise donations in FY 2024-25

-A total of ₹2639.481 cr was donated to the National Parties from Delhi, followed by ₹2438.86 cr from Maharashtra and ₹309.177 cr from Gujarat

-A total of ₹55,000, comprising 3 donations from the United States (USA), has been donated to AAP.

-A total of ₹7.684 cr (0.115% of total donations received by the National parties, FY 2024-25) could not be attributed to any State/ Union Territory due to incomplete/undeclared information provided by the parties.

Corporate Vs individual donors

-As many as 3244 donations to the national parties were made by corporate/business sectors, amounting to ₹6128.787 cr (92.18% of total donations), while 7900 individual donors donated ₹505.66 cr (7.61% of total donations) to the parties during FY 2024-25.

-As many as 2794 donations from corporate/business sectors were made to BJP ( ₹5717.167 cr) while 2627 individual donors donated ₹345.94 cr to the party during FY 2024-25.

-The Congress received a total of ₹383.8605 cr via 112 donations from corporate/business sectors and ₹132.3885 cr via 2357 individual donors during FY 2024-25.

-The BJP ( ₹5717.167 cr) received more than thirteen times the total amount ( ₹411.62 cr) of corporate donations declared by all other National parties for the FY 2024-25.

Top 10 donors to national parties

-The Prudent Electoral Trust donated a total of ₹2413.465 cr to BJP, INC and AAP together and is the top donor to parties that received the maximum donations.

-The Trust donated ₹2180.7119 cr to BJP (35.90% of total funds received by the party), ₹216.335 cr to INC (41.81% of total funds received by the party) and ₹16.4178 cr to AAP (43.08% of total funds received by the party).

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

-The top contributors to the Prudent Electoral Trust include ArcelorMittal Nippon, DLF, Maruti Suzuki, Bharti Airtel Ltd , among other big corporates.

-The Progressive Electoral Trust donated ₹834.97 cr from 2 donations, AB General Electoral Trust donated ₹621 cr through 16 donations, New Democratic Electoral Trust donated ₹155 cr through 7 donations to the BJP and the Congress.

-Serum Institute of India Pvt Ltd donated ₹100 cr through 3 donations, and Rungta Sons Private Limited donated ₹95 cr through 4 donations to the BJP in FY 2024-25.

Political Funding

All registered political parties in India are required to submit annual audit and contribution reports to the Election Commission of India (ECI).

This is a mandatory financial compliance requirement aimed at ensuring transparency and accountability in political funding, as per the Representation of the People Act, 1951 and the Income Tax Act, 1961.