Hyderabad: The month of November, which was buzzing with electioneering, recorded heavy purchase of electoral bonds worth Rs 184.2 crore.
The bonds were raised across eight cities in a span of ten days in November and surprisingly, of the total 339 bonds, 106 were purchased in Hyderabad and Kolkata.
This was the second month in succession where bonds worth more than 150 crores were purchased. Data obtained from the State Bank of India (SBI), by Factly (an information portal) revealed that bonds in the denomination of Rs 10 lakh and Rs 1 crore which accounted for 99.55 per cent were purchased in eight branches of SBI, which includes Raipur and Mumbai.
“Although assembly elections were due in five states, only the Hyderabad branch in Telangana saw the heavy purchase of the bonds. Surprisingly, the highest number of bonds and the highest amount were purchased from Kolkata where no elections were due. Even though elections were due in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Mizoram, not a single bond was purchased in Bhopal, Jaipur and Aizwal in November,” said M.D. Rakesh Reddy, founder of Factly.
He added, “The data revealed that not a single electoral bond of Rs 1,000 and Rs 10,000 denomination was purchased, an indication that the common man may not be purchasing these bonds. Out of the 339 bonds purchased in November, 10 were of 1 lakh denomination, 161 were of 10 lakh denomination and the remaining 168 were off 1 crore denomination.”
“Together, bonds in the denomination of 10 lakh and 1 crore accounted for 99.95 per cent of the bonds purchased in terms of value. It is highly likely that the Rs 10 lakh and Rs 1 crore denominations were purchased by corporates and not individuals. However, the SBI has refused to give data on the purchasers,” he concluded.
