The Electoral Bonds were first announced in the 2017-18 budget and the scheme was subsequently notified in January 2018. Factly had earlier written about the bonds, their impact on transparency etc.
Factly had also analysed the data obtained from the State Bank of India (SBI), the authorised bank to issue electoral bonds, about bonds purchased in the first three sale cycles in March, April and May 2018, to conclude that there was hardly any demand for electoral bonds of lower denomination. The latest data provided by SBI for the July cycle suggests that not a single electoral bond was purchased in the denomination of Rs 1000 and Rs 10,000. In terms of the value of bonds purchased, 99.7% of the bonds in July were in the denomination of Rs ten lakh and Rs one crore.
Not a single bond was sold in six cities in July 2018
The fpurth cycle of the scheme was open from July 2 to July 11 in the SBI branches in Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore, Gandhinagar, Chandigarh, Bhopal, Jaipur, Lucknow and Jaipur. Among the 11 branches, bonds were purchased only in five branches of New Delhi, Gandhinagar, Mumbai, Guwahati and Kolkata. Not a single bond was purchased in the rest of the six branches. Both the number and the value of bonds purchased has reduced with each cycle. Compared to 520 bonds purchased in March 2018, only 82 bonds were purchased in July 2018. Even in terms of the total value, July accounted for only Rs 32.5 crore worth bonds compared to Rs 222 crore purchased in March.
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In terms of value, more than 80% worth of bonds purchased in Mumbai and New Delhi
A total of 82 bonds worth Rs 32.5 crore were purchased in the July cycle, taking the total value of bonds purchased in the four cycles to Rs 470.8 crore. In terms of number of bonds purchased during the July cycle, Guwahati was on top with 34 bonds followed by 15 each in Delhi and Kolkata. Bonds were purchased for the first time in Guwahati branch. Out of the total 34 bonds purchased in Guwahati branch, ten were of Rs one lakh denomination while the remaining 24 were of Rs 10 lakh denomination. In terms of the value, bonds worth Rs 15 crore were purchased in New Delhi, all in denomination of Rs one crore. Mumbai followed with bonds worth Rs 13 crore, all in denomination of Rs one crore. Delhi and Mumbai accounted for more than 80% of the bonds purchased in terms of value.
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99.7% of bonds purchased (in terms of value) were in denomination of Rs ten lakh and Rs one crore
Data for July 2018 indicate that the bonds of lower denomination were hardly in demand like in the other cycles, an indication that citizens may not be purchasing these bonds. Not a single bond was purchased in the denomination of Rs 1000 and Rs 10,000. Out of the 82 bonds purchased, 10 were of Rs 1 lakh denomination, 44 were of Rs 10 lakh denomination and the remaining 28 were of Rs 1 crore denomination. Together, bonds in the denomination of Rs 10 lakh & Rs 1 crore accounted for 99.7% of the bonds purchased in terms of value. It is highly likely that the Rs ten lakh and Rs one crore denomination are purchased by corporates than individuals. There is no concrete information on the type of purchasers since SBI has refused to share such information.
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Data from the first four cycles indicates no demand for lower denomination
Data of electoral bonds purchased in the months of March, April, May and July 2018 clearly indicates that there is no demand for bonds of lower denomination. In terms of value, bonds of Rs one crore denomination accounted for Rs 412 crore or 87.5% followed by bonds of Rs ten lakh denomination that accounted for Rs 58.3 crore or 12.4%. Together, they have accounted for more than 99.9% of total value of bonds purchased till date. Even in terms of the number of bonds purchased, 995 out of the 1062 or 93.7% electoral bonds purchased till date are in the denomination of Rs ten lakh and Rs one crore.
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This report originally appeared on Factly and has been republished here under the Creative Commons license.