The 2024 Lok Sabha election results came as a surprise to many politicians and seasoned poll watchers alike. BJP, which had won clear majorities in 2014 and 2019, finished with 240 seats, 32 short of the halfway mark. Narendra Modi needed the support of NDA partners to form a government for a third term.When it came to political donations, however, BJP was the clear leader. India’s national parties declared ₹6,648.56 crore from 11,343 contributions above ₹20,000 in FY2024-25, according to an analysis by the Association for Democratic Reforms, or ADR. That was an increase of ₹4,104.29 crore, or 161%, over the previous financial year.BJP declared ₹6,074.02 crore from 5,522 contributions, up 171% from ₹2,243.95 crore a year earlier. Congress reported ₹517.39 crore from 2,501 contributions, an increase of 84% from ₹281.48 crore. AAP declared ₹38.11 crore, CPI(M) ₹16.96 crore and the National People’s Party ₹2.09 crore. BSP said it had received no donations above ₹20,000.Together, BJP and Congress accounted for 99.14% of the money declared by the six national parties covered by ADR. But buried inside that torrent of money was a curious crossover episode.A TOI examination of the signed FY2024-25 contribution reports submitted by BJP and Congress to the Election Commission has identified at least 19 direct donors whose Permanent Account Numbers, or PANs, appear in both filings.Together, these donors gave at least ₹258.73 crore to the two parties.The money was not divided evenly. BJP received ₹206.64 crore, or 79.87%, while Congress received ₹52.09 crore, or 20.13%. In simpler terms, of every ₹5 contributed by these common donors, roughly ₹4 went to BJP. However, the 19 donors accounted for only about 3.4% of BJP’s total declared contributions, while the corresponding figure for Congress was 10.1%.
Business money dominates
ADR classified ₹6,128.79 crore, or 92.18% of the contributions received by national parties, as coming from corporate or business sectors. Such contributions formed 94.13% of BJP’s declared total and 74.19% of Congress’s.The classification is broader than incorporated companies. It covers the corporate and business categories created by ADR from descriptions in the party filings. The biggest channel for political money was electoral trusts.ADR found that four trusts, Prudent, Progressive, AB General and New Democratic, gave national parties a combined ₹4,024.43 crore, equivalent to 60.53% of the contributions covered by its report. Prudent Electoral Trust alone gave ₹2,180.71 crore to BJP, ₹216.34 crore to Congress and ₹16.42 crore to AAP.These trust flows have been excluded from TOI’s common-donor calculation. An electoral trust pools contributions before distributing money to parties. Unless the records explicitly establish the link, a company contributing to a multi-donor trust cannot be described as having directly funded a particular party.This analysis therefore deals only with donors appearing directly in party contribution reports.
How the number was tallied
TOI counted a donor as common primarily when the same PAN appeared in both filings, with the name and address used as additional checks. Where the name and PAN did not line up clearly, the amount was left out. Similar company names, group relationships or common addresses were not considered sufficient.ADR found 205 contributions worth ₹3.47 crore without declared PAN details across national parties, besides 33 contributions worth ₹38.8 lakh carrying missing or incorrect PAN information.ADR also found that BJP and Congress had not declared payment dates for their contributions. The filings establish that the money was received during FY2024-25, but do not allow every contribution to be placed precisely on the election calendar.
Five donors did the heavy lifting
The five largest common donors gave ₹208.5 crore, accounting for 80.59% of the ₹258.73-crore pool. The biggest was Derive Investments, a Mumbai-based investment firm. Its PAN appears against four BJP contributions adding up to ₹53 crore. Congress received another ₹5 crore from the same PAN.Next came ITC Infotech India Ltd, ITC’s wholly owned technology and digital-services subsidiary. It gave ₹33.5 crore to BJP and ₹11.5 crore to Congress, or ₹45 crore in all.ITC Ltd, the diversified conglomerate with businesses spanning FMCG, cigarettes, paperboards, packaging and agribusiness, gave another ₹39 crore to BJP and ₹4 crore to Congress. Its two-party total was ₹43 crore. ITC Ltd and ITC Infotech have been counted separately because they are separate legal entities carrying separate PANs.The fourth-largest common donor was an individual.Suresh Amritlal Kotak, a veteran cotton trader and industry figure often described by his peers as the “Cotton Man of India”, gave ₹30 crore to BJP and ₹7.5 crore to Congress, or ₹37.5 crore in all.Then came Hindustan Zinc Ltd, a Vedanta Group company and integrated producer of zinc, lead and silver. It gave ₹15 crore to BJP and ₹10 crore to Congress.
How commons donors contributed to two major parties
Two companies, a perfect 50:50 split
Most large common donors leaned heavily towards BJP. Two companies followed a strikingly different script.Century Plyboards (India) Ltd, the Kolkata-headquartered maker of plywood, laminates and other wood products, gave ₹5 crore to BJP and ₹5 crore to Congress. Star Cement Ltd, a cement manufacturer with plants in Meghalaya, Assam and West Bengal, gave ₹3 crore to each.Micro Labs Ltd, the Bengaluru-based pharmaceutical company best known for the Dolo brand, came close to an even split, giving ₹2 crore to BJP and ₹2.05 crore to Congress.Others leaned sharply towards one party.Finolex Industries, a manufacturer of PVC pipes, fittings and resin, gave ₹5 crore to BJP and ₹1 crore to Congress. Mysore Projects gave ₹3.26 crore to BJP and ₹25 lakh to Congress.Malabar Gold Ltd, the jewellery company subsequently renamed Malabar Gold and Diamonds Ltd, gave at least ₹10.0525 crore to BJP and ₹25 lakh to Congress.Christy Friedgram Industry gave ₹1.90 crore to BJP and ₹1 crore to Congress. The other verified common donors were Russell Credit, Peoples Education Society, Sri City, Muthoot Finance, T V Mohandas Pai, Josco Fashion Jewellers and H S Purewal.
Not just BJP and Congress
Tiger Associates, a West Bengal partnership that describes itself as an area distributor for Nagaland, Sikkim and Punjab state lotteries, gave ₹60 crore to AIADMK, ₹50 crore to DMK and ₹50 crore to Trinamool Congress using the same PAN.That is ₹160 crore across three parties. Of this, ₹110 crore went to the two principal Tamil Nadu rivals, AIADMK and DMK.NATCO Pharma Ltd, a Hyderabad-headquartered pharmaceutical company focused on complex generic medicines and niche molecules, appears across five party filings.Its identified contributions total ₹35.55 crore: ₹16.5 crore to BJP, ₹10 crore to YSR Congress, ₹7 crore to TDP, ₹1.5 crore to Janasena and ₹55 lakh to CPI(M).
How donors contributed to multiple parties
Century Plyboards also gave ₹1 crore to YSR Congress and ₹50 lakh to TDP, taking its identified contribution across four parties to ₹11.5 crore.Vedanta Ltd, a diversified natural-resources company with operations spanning zinc, aluminium, iron ore, oil and gas, steel and power, identified political contributions of ₹67 crore to BJP, ₹25 crore to BJD and ₹20 crore to JMM in its audited standalone FY2024-25 financial statements. That was ₹112 crore across the three parties. Its broader standalone donation-expense line was ₹116 crore.Not every multi-party combination represents political rivals. BJP, TDP and Janasena contested the 2024 elections in Andhra Pradesh as NDA allies. TDP and YSR Congress, however, fought on opposite sides.
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Likewise, DMK and AIADMK were direct rivals in Tamil Nadu. BJP and BJD contested against each other in Odisha, while BJP and the JMM-led alliance were the principal opposing camps in Jharkhand.Deng Xiaoping famously said it did not matter whether a cat was black or white, so long as it caught mice. India’s donation filings offer their own lesson in pragmatism. For at least 19 donors, choosing between saffron and Congress blue was apparently not an either-or proposition.
