BIZ ~ COM
Eight of 30 Sensex companies disclosed their electoral bond purchases or other financial contributions to political parties in their annual reports at least once in the past five financial years.Collectively, these companies spent Rs 628 crore on political contributions in the past five years.
The telecom major Bharti Airtel contributed the highest amount of Rs 241 crore, followed by Tata Steel (Rs 175 crore) and Larsen & Toubro (Rs 85 crore).
Bharti Airtel emerged as the only Sensex company that consistently donated to political parties each year, in the past five financial years.
According to its annual reports, the company and its subsidiaries collectively donated Rs 241 crore to political parties between FY19 and FY23, either through electoral bonds or contributions to electoral trusts.
Sun Pharmaceuticals, despite being recorded as purchasing electoral bonds worth Rs 31.5 crore since FY19, as per the Election Commission data, did not disclose this or any other political contributions in its annual reports over the past five years. Instead, it only lists expenses on donations without detailing their breakdown.
Five other SENSEX companies reported donations to political parties only once in the past five financial years: UltraTech Cement (Rs 23 crore in FY19), Bajaj Finance (Rs 20 crore in FY20), Maruti Suzuki (Rs 20 crore in FY23), and Tech Mahindra (Rs 15 crore in FY20).
