The ruling BJP garnered Rs 915.59 crore or 93% of the corporate donations in 2016-17 and 2017-18 while the main Opposition Congress managed to get only Rs 55.36 crore, according to a new report.
Six national parties together have got Rs 1,059.25 crore via voluntary contributions above Rs 20,000 of which Rs 985.18 crore was donated by corporates alone, the 'Analysis of Donations from Corporate & Business Houses to National Parties - FY 2016-17 & 2017-18' by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) said.
Top three states from where maximum corporate donations were received were Delhi (Rs 481.37 crore), Maharashtra (Rs 176.88 crore) and Karnataka (Rs 43.184 crore).
BJP's donations came from 1,731 corporate and other donors while only 151 business ventures donated to Congress. NCP received Rs 7.73 crore from 23 corporate donations.
CPI(M) received 4.42 crore from 141 donations, which included Rs 2.5 crore from associations and unions, while Trinamool Congress received Rs 2.03 crore from seven donations and CPI Rs 4 lakh from seven donations, all of them from "unions". BSP said it had received no donations above Rs 20,000 from any donor.
According to the report, Electoral Trusts were the biggest donors to the national parties, contributing Rs 488.42 crore in both the fiscal while real estate sector, which donated Rs 49.94 crore, was the second biggest donor in 2016-17. In 2017-18, the manufacturing sector was the second highest overall contributor with Rs 74.744 crore.
Between FY 2016-17 and 2017-18, BJP and Congress received the maximum contributions from Electoral Trusts -- Rs 458.02 crore and Rs 29.40 crore respectively.
Prudent/Satya Electoral Trust was the top donor to two of the national parties -- it donated 46 times in two years, amounting to Rs 429.42 crore, with the BJP getting Rs 405.52 crore in 33 donations. The top donors to CPI were "unions". CPI received a total of Rs 4 lakhs from 8 different donors.
National parties have received the maximum corporate donations of Rs 573.18 cr in 2014-15 when Lok Sabha elections were held followed by 2016-17 with Rs 563.19 crore and 2017-18 with Rs 421.99 crore.
The report also noted that various sectors of business houses, in 6 years between 2012-13 and 2017-18, donated Rs 1941.95 crore or 91.17% of the total contribution from known sources of political parties amounting to Rs 2129.92 crore.
Corporate Donations in 2016-17 and 2017-18
| Total Donations above Rs 20,000 | Donations from Corporate Sector | % of Corporate Donations | |
| BJP | Rs 969.31 crore | Rs 915.96 crore | 94 |
| Congress | Rs 68.56 crore | Rs 55.36 crore | 81 |
| NCP | Rs 8.43 crore | Rs 7.73 crore | 55 |
| CPI(M) | Rs 8.01 crore | Rs 4.42 crore | 86 |
| Trinamool Congress | Rs 2.35 crore | Rs 2.03 crore | 86 |
| CPI | Rs 2.59 crore | Rs 0.04 crore | 2 |
| TOTAL | Rs 1059.25 crore | Rs 985.18 crore | 93 |
Source: Association for Democratic Reforms