From Tata Group to Mahindra, here’s how much corporates donated to political parties

Corporate funding to political parties in India saw a sharp change in financial year 2024-25, with electoral trusts emerging as the major channel after the Supreme Court struck down the electoral bond scheme in February 2024.

Data compiled from contribution reports submitted to the Election Commission of India (ECI) shows that donations coming through electoral trusts have more than tripled within a year, with the majority of funds flowing to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Increase in donations after the decision on electoral bonds

In the first full financial year after abolishing electoral bonds, nine electoral trusts donated more than ₹3,811 crore to political parties in 2024-25, while more than ₹1,218 crore was donated by five trusts in 2023-24, News18 Hindi reported.

This represents an increase of over 200%. According to the Indian Express, as of 20 December, contribution reports of 13 of the 19 registered electoral trusts were available on the ECI website, with four trusts declaring zero contributions for the year.

BJP secured the highest share

According to News18 Hindi, of the total trust donations in 2024-25, the BJP received more than ₹3,112 crore or about 82%, while the Congress received about ₹299 crore or just less than 8%.

Total political donations to the BJP in 2024-25 are set to exceed ₹6,000 crore, while in 2023-24 it is around ₹4,000 crore, taking its share in the party’s total donations to 85%, from 56% a year ago.

Prudent Electoral Trust leads the group

According to News18 Hindi, Prudent Electoral Trust emerged as the biggest donor, receiving ₹2,668.46 crore and donating over ₹2,180 crore to the BJP in 2024-25.

According to the Indian Express, Elevated Avenue Realty LLP, a real estate entity linked to Larsen & Toubro Group, was the largest contributor to Prudent, donating ₹500 crore.

Other major contributors include Megha Engineering & Infrastructure Ltd (₹175 crore), OP Jindal group of companies (₹157 crore), DLF (₹100 crore) and Ashok Leyland (₹100 crore). According to the Indian Express, PV Krishna Reddy, managing director of Megha Engineering, also separately donated around ₹145-150 crore to the trust.

Tata and Mahindra through electoral trusts

According to the Indian Express, the Progressive Electoral Trust, which was largely funded by Tata group companies, received ₹914.97-₹917 crore and donated ₹757.62-₹758 crore to the BJP and about ₹77 crore to the Congress.

Tata Sons, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Steel, Tata Motors and Tata Power were among the major contributors.

According to information given to the Election Commission, the New Democratic Electoral Trust, which was entirely funded by Mahindra group companies, received ₹160 crore and donated ₹150 crore to the BJP and ₹5 crore to the Congress.

Direct corporate donations have also increased

Apart from trusts, many corporates donated directly. According to a report in Scroll, Serum Institute of India donated ₹100 crore to BJP, followed by Rungta Group (₹95 crore), Bajaj Group (₹74 crore), ITC Group (₹72.5 crore), Hero Enterprise (₹70 crore) and Vedanta Group (₹65 crore).

ITC donated ₹15.5 crore to the Congress, while Vedanta contributed ₹20 crore to the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM).

a transparent but concentrated flow

While electoral trusts are considered more transparent than the erstwhile electoral bond system, the report highlights that a small group of large corporate houses – including entities linked to Tata, Mahindra, OP Jindal, L&T and Megha Engineering – are responsible for more than half of all trust contributions in 2024-25.

The data underscores growing concentration among a few donors and beneficiaries, as well as an increase in corporate political funding.