A total of 897 electoral bonds worth ₹571.8 crore were sold between January 2 and 11, with Kolkata having the highest share of 32.17% (415 bonds) worth ₹183.95 crore, the State Bank of India (SBI) said in a response to a right to information (RTI) request by commodore Lokesh Batra (retd).
SBI is the sole bank authorised by the government to issue and encash these bonds.
Hyderabad branch ranked second with a sale of 153 bonds worth ₹133.2 crore, or 23.29% of total value of bonds.
Electoral bonds are sold four times a year – January, April, July and October, and for another 30 days in the year general elections are held.
They allow political parties to accept money from donors whose identities are kept anonymous.
The sale during the 30th tranche of electoral bonds issued last month was a 43% drop from the previous one.
A total of 1,109 electoral bonds worth ₹1,006.03 crore were sold between in the 29th tranche between November 6 and 20, ahead of and during the assembly elections in five states.
In January, 581 (64.77%) electoral bonds were sold through digital payment instruments while 316 were sold through physical payment instruments like cheques and demand drafts.
{{/usCountry}}In January, 581 (64.77%) electoral bonds were sold through digital payment instruments while 316 were sold through physical payment instruments like cheques and demand drafts.
{{/usCountry}}Also Read: Electoral bonds worth over ₹15,000 crore sold since 2018: SBI
872 bonds worth ₹570.05 crore, accounting for 99.69% of the total value, were encashed.
A total of 336 bonds worth ₹237.9 crore were encashed in the Delhi branch, 158 bonds worth ₹138.2 crore (24.24%) were encashed in Hyderabad while 310 bonds worth ₹130.45 crore (22.88%) were encashed in Kolkata.
25 bonds worth ₹1.7503 crore were not encashed.
Of these, 22 bonds worth ₹1.75 crore were purchased from the Gandhinagar branch while two bonds worth ₹2000 and one bond worth ₹1000 were bought in Kolkata and Delhi, respectively.
In the 29th tranche, Hyderabad saw the highest sale of 386 bonds worth ₹359 crore.
Mumbai and Delhi saw sales of 263 and 212 bonds, respectively, for ₹259.3 crore (25.77%) and ₹182.75 crore (18.17%).