A year after the Supreme Court struck down electoral bonds, political parties have started adopting a new method of receiving donations. Instead of bonds, donations are now being made through electoral trusts. In the financial year 2024-25, electoral trusts donated Rs 3,811 crore to political parties, which is three times more than the previous financial year. Of this total donation, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which leads the central government, received the most, 82 percent.
According to the donation reports submitted by various trusts to the Election Commission of India, the Congress received about eight percent (Rs 299 crore) of their donations. All other parties together received the remaining 10 percent (Rs 400 crore). However, the total donations received by political parties are much higher than this, as fundraising through electoral trusts is just one channel. There are many other channels through which political donations are made.
According to a report in the Indian Express, the Election Commission has received donation reports from 13 out of 19 registered electoral trusts as of December 20, 2025. Nine trusts have announced a total donation of Rs 3,811 crore to political parties. Compared to the previous year, in 2023-2024, the total amount of grants given by the trusts was Rs 1,218 crore, which is more than 200 percent. This means that the grants received this year have tripled. These four trusts, Janhit, Parivartan, Jai Hind and Jai Bharat, have not reported any grants in 2024-2025.
The BJP is also ahead in receiving donations from electoral trusts instead of electoral bonds. Prudent Electoral Trust has emerged as a major donor to the BJP, giving a total of Rs 2,180.07 crore. The trust has received funds from several companies including Jindal Steel and Power, Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Limited, Bharti Airtel, Arvind Pharma, Torrent Pharmaceuticals, among others.
In the last financial year, 2023-24, the BJP received voluntary donations of Rs 3,967.14 crore. Of this, 43%, or Rs 1,685.62 crore, came from electoral bonds alone. In 2024, the Supreme Court struck down the electoral bond scheme, declaring it unconstitutional.
How are grants being given after electoral bonds?
Currently, corporate entities can donate to parties through cheques, DDs, UPI and bank transfers. Parties are required to report their donations to the Election Commission in their donation reports and annual audit reports. Through electoral trusts, companies and individuals can donate to a trust, which then distributes donations to parties. Prudent Electoral Trust has donated to Congress, TMC, AAP, TDP and other parties. However, in 2024-2025, most of their total donations of Rs 2,668 crore, or about 82 percent, went to the BJP.
Another trust, the Progressive Electoral Trust, collected Tk 917 crore from donations received from various companies in the fiscal year 2024-25. Of this, it donated Tk 914.97 crore. 80.82 percent of these donations went to the BJP. The major contributors to the Progressive Electoral Trust were Tata Group companies, which includes Tata Sons Private Limited, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Tata Steels Limited, Tata Motors Limited and Tata Power Company Limited.
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