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Why Are Gujarat’s Industrialists Donating to the BJP After Delhi?
Why Are People in Gujarat Giving Both Votes and Money to the BJP?
As of April 8, 2025, industries in Delhi donated ₹405 crores to political parties in one year. Gujarat ranks second. Industrialists from Gujarat have surpassed those from Mumbai, Chennai, and Kolkata in political donations. This has led to the belief that Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel’s BJP government is supporting industries by bringing them under the legal framework and facilitating their operations. During Narendra Modi’s 12-year tenure as Chief Minister, Bhupendra Patel had already allocated the most land to industries. This could be one of the major reasons.
According to Forbes India’s 2024 list of top philanthropists, Delhi-based Shiv Nadar tops the list with a wealth of ₹1.25 lakh crore. Despite this, he has donated more than Gujarat’s top industrialists like Adani, Ambani, Mehta, and Tata. However, Gujarat’s industrialists are relatively less generous in donating to public causes and even hesitate to publicly donate to the BJP. It is believed that they are making large private donations to the BJP.
According to the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), political parties received over ₹2,544.28 crores in donations in 2023-24, an increase from the previous year.
From Delhi alone, national parties received ₹990 crores, from Gujarat ₹404 crores, and from Maharashtra ₹334 crores.
The BJP received the highest amount of donations. Even the Congress saw an increase.
In the last fiscal year, the BJP received ₹2,343.947 crores in donations, while the Congress received ₹281 crores.
The BJP’s donation total was six times more than the combined donations received by four other national parties (Congress, AAP, NPEP, and CPI(M)).
Details of donations above ₹20,000 were submitted to the Election Commission. BSP has consistently declared for 18 years that it has not received any donation above ₹20,000.
BJP’s donations increased by 212%, while Congress donations increased by 252.18%.
Donations from Gujarat
In Gujarat, political parties received ₹404 crores in one year, of which ₹402 crores went to the BJP, and the Congress received just ₹2.45 crores.
The BJP received most of this money from corporate groups and individuals.
- Of the ₹404 crores in Gujarat, ₹365 crores came from corporate/business houses.
- 90% of the ₹365 crores was donated by business and corporate groups.
- Congress received ₹2.027 crores from just 6 corporate groups.
- The BJP received 736 individual donations, whereas Congress got money from just 30 individuals.
- Builders and contractors were among the top donors.
In 2016-17, after Modi became Prime Minister, the BJP received ₹174 crores in donations. Within 9 years, this amount has more than doubled.
Some donors without PAN cards donated ₹1.33 crores to the BJP. Companies like Narayan Realty and Sairuchi alone donated ₹50 lakhs.
Electoral Bonds and Gujarat Donors
Between April 1, 2019 and February 15, 2024, 22,217 electoral bonds were purchased, with 50% going to the BJP and only 11% to the Congress.
Some major companies that bought bonds include:
- Torrent Group – ₹184 crores
- Welspun Group – ₹55 crores
- Lakshmi Mittal – ₹35 crores
- Intas – ₹20 crores
- Zydus – ₹29 crores
- Arvind – ₹16 crores
- Nirma – ₹16 crores
- Alembic – ₹10 crores
Notably, companies owned by Adani, Tata, or Ambani are not listed as buyers of electoral bonds.
Total electoral bond fund received by parties:
- BJP – ₹6,061 crores (47% of total)
- TMC – ₹1,610 crores (12.6%)
- Congress – ₹1,422 crores (11%)
- BRS – ₹1,215 crores (9.5%)
- BJD – ₹776 crores (6%)
Other parties like AIADMK, Shiv Sena, TDP, YSRCP, DMK, JDS, NCP, JD(U), RJD, AAP, and SP also received bond donations.
Black Money and Political Donations
In the past 3 years, 90,000 taxpayers who claimed tax exemptions under Section 80GGC (political donations) were issued notices.
These taxpayers donated large sums (₹1.5 lakh to over ₹10 lakh) and claimed tax deductions on those. The total tax-exempt donation was about ₹1,075 crores. Several programs were cancelled or investigated as a result.
In Gujarat, many taxpayers were raided or received notices for declaring lesser donation amounts in returns than what was recorded.
Earlier Malpractices
Three years ago:
- Parties used to return cash through hawala (angadia) networks while keeping a commission of 10% or more.
- In 2020-21 and 2021-22, the IT department sent notices to 5,000 individual and corporate donors.
- Some donations were alleged to be a method for money laundering and tax evasion.
About 20 political parties received donations but were not recognized parties. In many cases, donors’ declared income did not match the donation amount.
Donors could claim 100% tax exemptions on donations to unverified parties registered with the Election Commission but not officially recognized or active.
Regional Parties and Donations
In 2022–23, 57 regional parties received ₹200 crores in donations, but only 18 submitted details on time.
- BRS (Telangana) got the most: ₹154 crores
- Followed by YSR Congress, JJP, TDP, and TMC
- Samajwadi Party and Shiromani Akali Dal saw sharp declines in donations (99% and 89% respectively)
Out of 57 parties, 7 received no donations, while 28 parties shared incomplete donor data (e.g., no PAN or address).
Hidden Donor Data by BJP (2019–20)
In FY 2019–20:
- BJP alone received ₹786 crores, which was more than 3x the total received by 5 other major parties combined.
- Congress, TMC, NCP, CPI, and CPM received ₹228 crores.
- The BJP did not disclose donor details for large chunks of these funds.
- Even Amravati Municipal Corporation, a government entity, donated ₹5 crores to BJP.
Why Are Gujarat’s Industries Donating to BJP?
- Political and policy stability in Gujarat under BJP for over 20 years.
- Business-friendly governance, including land allotment and regulatory ease.
- Strong central-state alignment under Modi.
- Dominance of BJP with little effective opposition in Gujarat.
- Use of electoral bonds for secrecy, encouraging large donations.
- Tax benefits and money laundering concerns under scrutiny.
- Donations seen as strategic investments, not just support.
