Tuesday, 16 Dec, 2025
Image Source: The Leaflet
In 2024–25, the Tata-backed Progressive Electoral Trust distributed approximately ₹915 crore across various political parties, with the BJP receiving around 83% of the total.
The latest political contribution filings for 2024–25 lay out a clearer picture of how parties recalibrated their fundraising strategies after the Supreme Court struck down the electoral bonds scheme in February 2024. With bonds no longer available, electoral trusts and direct corporate contributions became the principal channels for high-value donations, and the disclosures submitted to the Election Commission show sharp increases for several national and regional parties.
One of the largest flows recorded this year came from the Progressive Electoral Trust (PET), backed by Tata Group companies. PET distributed a total of about ₹915 crore to ten parties in 2024–25, with the Bharatiya Janata Party receiving by far the highest share: ₹757 crore, or nearly 83% of its total disbursal. The Congress was the second-largest recipient with ₹77.3 crore, while eight other parties, including the Trinamool Congress (TMC), YSR Congress Party, Shiv Sena, Biju Janata Dal (BJD), Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), Janata Dal (United), and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), each received ₹10 crore.
PET’s funding itself originated entirely from 15 companies within the Tata Group. The largest contributions came from Tata Sons (₹308 crore), Tata Consultancy Services (₹217 crore), and Tata Steel (₹173 crore), with additional sums flowing from Tata Motors, Tata Power, Tata Communications, Tata Consumer Products, Tata Elxsi, and Tata AutoComp Systems. Scroll noted that PET’s transfers to the BJP were made in April 2024, shortly before the general elections and several weeks after the Union government approved over ₹44,000 crore in subsidies for two semiconductor manufacturing units proposed by the Tata Group. Two other semiconductor-related donors appeared in filings as well: the Murugappa Group, which donated ₹125 crore to the BJP after receiving approval for another semiconductor plant, and the managing director of Kaynes Technology, who donated ₹12 crore after his firm secured approval to set up a unit in Gujarat.
Electoral trust filings show that PET was not the only trust directing substantial funds to the ruling party. The BJP received ₹150 crore from the Mahindra-backed New Democratic Electoral Trust, over ₹30 crore from Harmony Electoral Trust, ₹21 crore from Triumph Electoral Trust, ₹9.5 lakh from Jan Kalyan Electoral Trust, and ₹7.75 lakh from Einzigartig Electoral Trust. Taken together, these contributions add up to roughly ₹959 crore from electoral trusts alone in 2024–25. Comparable data from previous years underscores the continued advantage the BJP holds in trust-based funding: in 2018–19, PET directed 75% of its corpus to the BJP, and in 2023–24, the Prudent Electoral Trust alone had transferred ₹724 crore to the party.
While the BJP’s own contribution report for 2024–25 has not yet been uploaded by the Election Commission, party officials have attributed the delay to late submission. The available filings from other parties highlight an overall surge in donations compared to 2023–24. The Congress reported ₹517.37 crore in contributions above ₹20,000, nearly doubling its previous year’s ₹281.48 crore. A substantial share of this came through electoral trusts: Prudent Electoral Trust contributed ₹216.33 crore (up from ₹156 crore), PET added ₹77.34 crore, AB General Electoral Trust donated ₹15 crore, the New Democratic Electoral Trust gave ₹5 crore, and Jankalyan Electoral Trust transferred ₹9.5 lakh. In total, the party received over ₹313 crore through trusts alone, along with corporate donations from companies such as Hindustan Zinc (₹10 crore) and ITC Group entities. Individual contributions included a ₹3 crore donation from senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram and smaller contributions from Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, and others.
Compared with the ₹828 crore that Congress received through electoral bonds in 2023–24, its trust-based funding in 2024–25 is considerably lower, but it is higher than the ₹171 crore it received in 2022–23, a non-election year. This trend is visible across other major parties as well. The TMC reported one of the most dramatic jumps, with contributions rising from ₹6.52 crore last year to ₹184.96 crore this year, a 2,766% increase. Of this, ₹92 crore came from Prudent Electoral Trust and ₹10 crore from PET, alongside a ₹50 crore corporate donation from Tiger Associates. Multiple smaller contributions were also made by TMC MPs and leaders. The increase comes ahead of state elections scheduled early next year.
Regional parties displayed similar jumps. The Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) reported a leap from ₹11.67 lakh to ₹11.09 crore, a more than 9,400% increase, coinciding with the NDA’s strong electoral performance in Bihar. The Janata Dal (United) reported ₹18.6 crore, a significant rise from ₹1.81 crore in 2023–24. In Tamil Nadu, the DMK’s contributions rose from ₹81.5 crore to ₹365 crore, ahead of the 2026 state polls. The Aam Aadmi Party reported contributions of ₹38.10 crore, more than triple its previous year’s ₹11.06 crore, with over half coming from Prudent Electoral Trust and the remainder from individual donors and smaller institutions.
Other large regional parties also reported notable sums. The TDP disclosed ₹83.04 crore in contributions, including ₹25 crore from Prudent Electoral Trust and ₹5 crore from AB General Electoral Trust. The YSR Congress declared ₹140 crore, slightly lower than its ₹184 crore in the previous year. The BRS reported ₹15.09 crore, including ₹10 crore from PET and ₹5 crore from Prudent Electoral Trust. The BJD recorded ₹60 crore, with ₹25 crore coming from Vedanta Limited and additional amounts from various trusts.
Across the filings, one common thread is the growing role of electoral trusts as the central mechanism for large-scale contributions following the discontinuation of electoral bonds. The trust system, which operates under the Companies Act, the Income Tax Act, the Electoral Trust Scheme of 2013, and Election Commission guidelines, requires trusts to transfer at least 95% of the funds they receive within the same financial year, and mandates electronic transfers. These rules make the system more transparent than the bond mechanism, though the concentration of contributions from a small number of large donors, be it PET, Prudent, or New Democratic, continues to shape the funding landscape for major parties.
The 2024–25 filings collectively show that, even in the first full year without electoral bonds, funding for major parties has not diminished. Instead, donations have shifted toward established trusts and corporate transfers, with the BJP retaining the largest share of high-value contributions and several parties recording substantial increases compared to the previous year.
