According to 2 Right to Information replies by the State Bank of India (SBI) on these dates, the central authorities printed 10,000 electoral bonds value Rs 1 crore someday between August 1 and October 29.
The most up-to-date tranche of electoral bonds for Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat elections went on sale from October 1 to October 10.
According to an October 29 reply by SBI to RTI activist Kanhaiya Kumar, the federal government final printed electoral bonds in 2019, when bonds value Rs 11,400 crore have been printed in varied denominations on the India Security Press in Nashik.
SBI, the one financial institution licensed by the federal government to promote electoral bonds, stated in the identical reply that 10,000 electoral bonds value Rs 1 crore have been printed within the calendar yr 2022. In response to Kumar’s earlier RTI question to the identical query, SBI on August 1 offered particulars of printing of electoral bonds in 2018 and 2019 as the one examples of the identical.
When requested whether or not the price of printing of electoral bonds was borne by the federal government or the customer of the bond, SBI in its October 29 reply stated: “Stable has been obtained from the Government of India. [Government of India] For sale by SBI at its licensed branches (sic).
hottest choice
Over the years, pole bonds of Rs 1 crore denomination, the best denomination obtainable within the scheme, have been the most well-liked selection for corporates and people. The scheme additionally covers bonds in denominations of Rs 1,000, Rs 10,000, Rs 1 lakh and Rs 10 lakh. However, these do discover some takers.
Citing the information offered by SBI in its current reply, Kumar stated the federal government had printed 10,000 of the brand new electoral bonds value Rs 1 crore, despite the fact that 5,068 of the identical denomination after the sale of 1 tranche in July. The bonds have been mendacity unsold. Since the launch of the scheme in 2018, the federal government has to date printed 24,650 Rs 1 crore denomination bonds, of which 10,108 have been bought.
Over the years, electoral bonds of Rs 1 crore denomination, which is the best denomination obtainable within the scheme, have been the most well-liked choice for corporates and people, who purchase bonds to offer to political events. According to SBI’s reply, about 94 per cent of the overall electoral bond worth bought to date has been within the type of bonds value Rs 1 crore. The scheme additionally covers bonds in denominations of Rs 1,000, Rs 10,000, Rs 1 lakh and Rs 10 lakh. However, these do discover some takers.
When requested for phase-wise and denomination-wise particulars of unsold electoral bonds since 2018, SBI stated the data was not obtainable centrally as licensed branches have been promoting bonds.
On 19 August, India Security Press in its reply to RTI activist Commodore Lokesh Batra (Retd) acknowledged that the federal government has to date spent Rs 1.85 crore on printing of electoral bonds. The variety of electoral bonds printed until then – 6,64,250 – didn’t embrace the lately printed Rs 10,000 denomination bonds of Rs 1 crore, in line with SBI’s RTI reply to Kumar.
On June 16, the Central Information Commission had ordered India Security Press to supply Batra the main points of the price of printing electoral bonds and the prices concerned. The state press had earlier refused to disclose data to Batra, saying the disclosure would adversely have an effect on the nation’s financial pursuits.
With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
