Several obscure infrastructure firms purchased electoral bonds

NEW DELHI: Not only major infrastructure firms have purchased a significant quantity of electoral bonds (EBs). Several lesser-known companies, particularly in the real estate and construction industries, have donated to political campaigns using these bonds. Contrary to popular belief, however, the majority of these businesses don’t have any problems with law enforcement.

According to information provided by SBI to the EC, Sri Siddharth Infratech and Services, a lesser-known real estate business in Hyderabad, bought bonds for around Rs 61 crore. The headquarters of a number of infrastructure companies, particularly those in the irrigation and water supply sectors, are located in Hyderabad. These include Hes Infra, Koya, and Construction Company, which have each invested Rs 20 crore and Rs 25 crore in bonds.
NCC and Navayuga Engineering, two more significant infrastructure players located in Hyderabad, have purchased bonds valued at Rs 60 crore and Rs 55 crore, respectively. The information on the bonds that companies have purchased also reveals that Welspun, a road construction business, has acquired EBs for Rs 55 crore, while Sasmal Infra Pvt Ltd, a different Kolkata-based company, has acquired bonds for Rs 44 crore since November 2023. Comparably, since January 2020, Gurgaon-based Apco Infratech, which is in charge of a number of road and highway projects, has acquired EBs totaling Rs 30 crore, while Dinesh Chandra Agrawal has acquired bonds totaling Rs 18 crore.
A cursory glance at the list reveals that DLF, a real estate company, bought EBs for Rs 170 crore on six separate occasions. B G Shirke Construction, another Pune-based company that specialises in residential, institutional, and commercial constructions, purchased bonds totaling Rs 115 crore. A completely owned subsidiary of the RP-Sanjiv Goenka (RP-SG) group of enterprises, Dhariwal Infrastructure Ltd., purchased bonds for a total of Rs 115 crore on seven separate occasions.
Bonds totaling Rs 38.5 crore were purchased by a different group of power industry specialists, including Genus Power and Genus Power Infrastructures Ltd., both situated in Jaipur.
The data indicates that a significant number of infrastructure corporations are purchasing equity bonds (EBs) during a period of intense building activity in several sectors of the economy and substantial government expenditure on infrastructure projects. Numerous new players have emerged as a result of this.
Just before the Lok Sabha election, the disclosure of the bonds the firms bought sparked a political issue with accusations of “quid pro quo,” but several of the senior executives of infrastructure corporations denied the claims. “These transactions were performed formally and in accordance with the established protocol. One of them said, “Almost all government contracts are awarded to the lowest-quoting bidder via electronic bidding.
The information that the EC made available to the public states that Lucina Land Development Ltd., an Indiabulls subsidiary, had acquired EBs for a total of Rs 20 crore. Bonds valued at Rs. 15 crore and Rs. 24 crore have been purchased by two more real estate companies, Aqua Space and My Home Infra.