Fresh electoral bonds to go on sale from January 1; Mumbai sold most bonds so far

Bonds worth Rs 6,492.68 crore have been sold since 2018

With the government announcing the 15th edition of sale of electoral bonds from the New Year, an analysis has shown that the highest amount of bond sale so far took place in the commercial capital of Mumbai while its encashment was in Delhi, the national capital.

Since 2018 when the electoral bond came into being, there were 14 phases of sales during which bonds worth Rs 6,492.68 crore have been sold while Rs 6,472.43 crore were encashed. The bonds which were not encashed amounting to around Rs 20.25 crore were transferred to PMNRF.

Electoral bonds are sold by 29 SBI branches and eligible parties could encash them only in these facilities.

The government on Tuesday announced that the 15th phase of electoral bond sale would take place between January 1 and 10. These bonds will be valid for 15 calendar days from the date of issue and no payment will be made to any payee party if the electoral Bond is deposited after expiry of the validity period.

The analysis by transparency activist Commodore Lokesh Batra (retired) based on RTI responses have shown that Rs 2,022.29 crore were sold in SBI branch Mumbai, which is 31.16% of the total sale, while Delhi had the highest encashment of Rs 5,003.70 crore.

Mumbai, which is home to several corporates, accounted for 31.16% of the electoral bonds that were sold followed by Kolkata (22.98% or Rs 1491.70 crore) and Delhi (14.67% or Rs 952.62 crore).

Interestingly, only 17 out of 29 branches had sold electoral bonds during this period.

When it came to encashing the bonds, the authorised SBI branch in New Delhi topped the list (77.31% or Rs 5,003.70 crore) indicating that the national capital followed by Hyderabad (9.31% or Rs 602.30 crore) and Bhubaneswar (4.84% or 313.50 crore).

On the other hand, the encashment in Mumbai, which sold the highest value of electoral bonds, was only 2.34% or Rs 151.13 core.

Among the cities, Mumbai sold the highest proportion of bonds with a value of Rs one crore (32.40% or 1,932 out of 5,981 bonds of Rs one crore value sold across India) followed by Kolkata (22.54% or 1,348) and New Delhi (14.90% or 891).

Delhi again topped the list when it came to encashing bonds with a value of Rs one crore with 78.37%.

For printing these bonds, the government has spent Rs 1.85 crore, while the SBI has received Rs 3.66 crore as commission for the sale of electoral bonds.

Status of electroral bonds transactions so far:

Sale Dates	SOLD	REDEEMED	UNCLAIMED	COMMISSION PAID TO SBI
Mar 1-10, 2018	Rs 222.001 crore	Rs 222 crore	Rs 1.0008 crore	Rs 12.24 lakh
Apr 2-10, 2018	Rs 114.9007 crore	Rs 114.9001 crore	Rs 6,000	Rs 6.38 lakh
May 1-10, 2018	Rs 101.40 crore	Rs 91.4 crore	Rs 1 crore	Rs 5.09 crore
July 2-11, 2018	Rs 32.5 crore	Rs 32.5 crore	Fully redeemed	Rs 1.82 lakh
Oct 1-10, 2018	Rs 401.73 crore	Rs 401.53 crore	Rs 20 lakh	Rs 22.11 lakh
Nov 1-10, 2018	Rs 184.20 crore	Rs 184.20 crore	Fully redeemed	Rs 10.25 lakh
Jan 1-10, 2019	Rs 350.3602 crore	Rs 350.3601 crore	Rs 1,000	Rs 19.52 lakh
Mar 1-15, 2019	Rs 1,365.69 crore	Rs 1,364.69 crore	Rs 1.001 crore	Rs 75.97 lakh
Apr 1-20, 2019	Rs 2,256.37 crore	Rs 2,251.13 crore	Rs 5.05 crore	Rs 1.25 crore
May 4-10, 2019	Rs 822.25 crore	Rs 819.25 crore	Rs 3.0004 crore	Rs 45.36 lakh
July 1-10, 2019	Rs 45.38 crore	Rs 45.38 crore	Fully redeemed	Rs 2.96 lakh
Oct 1-10, 2019	Rs 231.93 crore	Rs 231.93 crore	Fully redeemed	Rs 15.19 lakh
Jan 13-22, 2020	Rs 81.67 crore	Rs 81.67 crore	Fully redeemed	Rs 5.33 lakh
Oct 19-20, 2020	Rs 282.2901 crore	Rs 282.29 crore	Rs 1,000	Rs 18.40 lakh
TOTAL	Rs 6,492.68 crore	Rs 6,472.43 crore	Rs 20.25 crore	Rs 3.66 crore

Source: RTIs filed by transparency activist Commodore Lokesh Batra (Retd)