Electoral Bonds: Not a single bond of Rs 1000 & Rs 10000 sold even in July

Data obtained from SBI reveals that there was hardly any demand for electoral bonds of lower denomination even during the 4^th cycle in July. Not a single bond in the denomination Rs 1000 & Rs 10000 was purchased in July.

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The Electoral Bonds were first announced in the 2017-18 budget and the scheme was subsequently notified in January 2018. Factly had earlier written about the bonds, their impact on transparency etc.

Factly had also analysed the data obtained from the State Bank of India (SBI), the authorized bank to issue electoral bonds, about bonds purchased in the first three sale cycles in March, April & May 2018, to conclude that there was hardly any demand for electoral bonds of lower denomination. The latest data provided by SBI for the July cycle suggests that not a single electoral bond was purchased in the denomination of Rs 1000 and Rs 10000. In terms of the value of bonds purchased, 99.7% of the bonds in July were in the denomination of Rs 10 lakh & Rs 1 crore.

Not a single bond was sold in 6 cities in July 2018
The 4th cycle of the scheme was open from 02^nd July to 11^th July in the SBI branches in Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore, Gandhinagar, Chandigarh, Bhopal, Jaipur, Lucknow & Jaipur. Among the 11 branches, bonds were purchased only in five (5) branches of New Delhi, Gandhinagar, Mumbai, Guwahati & Kolkata. Not a single bond was purchased in the rest of the six (6) branches. Both the number & the value of bonds purchased has reduced with each cycle. Compared to 520 bonds purchased in March 2018, only 82 bonds were purchased in July 2018. Even in terms of the total value, July accounted for only Rs 32.5 crore worth bonds compared to Rs 222 crore purchased in March.

In terms of value, more than 80% worth of bonds purchased in Mumbai & New Delhi
A total of 82 bonds worth Rs 32.5 crore were purchased in the July cycle, taking the total value of bonds purchased in the four cycles to Rs 470.8 crore. In terms of number of bonds purchased during the July cycle, Guwahati was on top with 34 bonds followed by 15 each in Delhi & Kolkata. Bonds were purchased for the first time in Guwahati branch. Out of the total 34 bonds purchased in Guwahati branch, 10 were of Rs 1 lakh denomination while the remaining 24 were of Rs 10 lakh denomination. In terms of the value, bonds worth Rs 15 crore were purchased in New Delhi, all in denomination of Rs 1 crore. Mumbai followed with bonds worth Rs 13 crore, all in denomination of Rs 1 crore. Delhi & Mumbai accounted for more than 80% of the bonds purchased in terms of value.

99.7% of bonds purchased (in terms of value) were in denomination of Rs 10 lakh & Rs 1 crore
Data for July 2018 indicates that the bonds of lower denomination were hardly in demand like in the other cycles, an indication that citizens may not be purchasing these bonds. Not a single bond was purchased in the denomination of Rs 1000 and Rs 10000. Out of the 82 bonds purchased, 10 were of Rs 1 lakh denomination, 44 were of Rs 10 lakh denomination and the remaining 28 were of Rs 1 crore denomination.  Together, bonds in the denomination of Rs 10 lakh & Rs 1 crore accounted for 99.7% of the bonds purchased in terms of value. It is highly likely that the Rs 10 lakh & Rs 1 crore denomination are purchased by corporates than individuals.  There is no concrete information on the type of purchasers since SBI has refused to share such information.

Data from the first four cycles indicates no demand for lower denomination
Data of electoral bonds purchased in the months of March, April, May & July 2018 clearly indicates that there is no demand for bonds of lower denomination. In terms of value, bonds of Rs 1 crore denomination accounted for Rs 412 crore or 87.5% followed by bonds of Rs 10 lakh denomination that accounted for Rs 58.3 crore or 12.4%. Together, they have accounted for more than 99.9% of total value of bonds purchased till date. Even in terms of the number of bonds purchased, 995 out of the 1062 or 93.7% electoral bonds purchased till date are in the denomination of Rs 10 lakh and Rs 1 crore.