Electoral bonds: 100 listed firms across 32 sectors are donors, shows data

The top five sectors accounted for over 60 per cent of the total donations

Nearly 100 listed companies across 32 sectors have contributed to political parties through electoral bonds. The analysis is based on matching over 1,300 entities mentioned in the electoral bonds data released by the Election Commission on Thursday, against listed company data from Capitaline, a data provider firm.

The top five sectors accounted for over 60 per cent of the donations. The largest sectoral donor was pharmaceuticals (18.7 per cent), followed by mining and mineral products (18.5 per cent), steel (10 per cent), telecommunications services (9 per cent), and cement (6.1 per cent).

The bottom five sectors collectively accounted for less than 1 per cent of the total donors. Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) was the lowest with less than 0.01 per cent share in the total listed company donations. Others include plastic products, auto ancillaries, petrochemicals, and the paper industry. 

Ninety-seven unique names matched against the publicly listed company database. Not all company names are spelled in full in the electoral bond data, which may affect the ease of identification. The analysis can be considered broadly indicative of the trend in donations.