Press Release: A total of Rs 6074.015 cr from 5522 donations was declared by BJP followed by Rs 517.394 cr from 2501 donations declared by INC. The donations declared by BJP are more than ten times the aggregate declared by INC, AAP, CPI(M) and NPEP for the same period.

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Mar 26, 2026, 2:37:51 AM (yesterday) Mar 26

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Press Release

Date: 26 March, 2026

Analysis of Donations Received above Rs 20,000 by National Political Parties – FY 2024-25

This report, prepared by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), focuses on donations above Rs 20,000, received by the National political parties during the financial year 2024-25, as per details submitted by the parties to the Election Commission of India (ECI). The National parties include Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Indian National Congress (INC), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M) and National People’s Party (NPEP).

The reports in both English and Hindi can be accessed from the links given below: https://adrindia.org/content/Analysis-of-donations-declared-by-National-Parties-FY-2024-25

Executive Summary

Status of Submission of Contribution Reports of National Parties, FY 2024-25

The due date for submission of contribution reports for the parties was 30 September 2025.
Only BSP, NPEP and AAP submitted their contribution reports on time while INC, CPI(M) and BJP submitted after a delay of 23 days, 66 days and 68 days respectively.

Donations above Rs 20,000 to National Parties from all over India, FY 2024-25

The total donations (above Rs 20,000) declared by the National parties for FY 2024-25 was Rs 6648.563 cr from 11,343 donations.
A total of Rs 6074.015 cr from 5522 donations was declared by BJP followed by Rs 517.394 cr from 2501 donations declared by INC. The donations declared by BJP are more than ten times the aggregate declared by INC, AAP, CPI(M) and NPEP for the same period.
BSP declared that the party did not receive any donations above Rs 20,000 during FY 2024-25, as it has been declaring for the past 19 years.

Comparison of donations received by National parties during FY 2023-24 and FY 2024-25

The total donations of the National parties during FY 2024-25 increased by Rs 4104.285 cr, an increase of 161% from the previous financial year 2023-24.
Donations to the BJP increased from Rs 2,243.947 cr in FY 2023-24 to Rs 6074.015 cr in FY 2024-25, marking a 171% increase. Similarly, donations to the INC rose from Rs 281.48 cr in FY 2023-24 to Rs 517.394 cr in FY 2024-25, reflecting an 84% increase.
In comparison to the previous financial year, donations declared by AAP increased by 244% or Rs 27.044 cr, while donations declared by NPEP increased by 1313% or Rs 1.943 cr.

State-wise donations to National Parties, FY 2024-25

Segregation of donations according to state was made by ADR based on the addresses provided by the parties in their donations report to the ECI.
A total of Rs 2639.481 cr was donated to the National Parties from Delhi, followed by Rs 2438.86 cr from Maharashtra and Rs 309.177 cr from Gujarat.
Total donation of Rs 55,000 from 3 donations from United States (USA) has been made to AAP.
A total of Rs 7.684 cr (0.115% of total donations received by the National parties, FY 2024-25) could not be attributed to any State/ Union Territory due to incomplete/undeclared information provided by the parties.

Donors from corporates/business sectors Vs. individual donors

3244 donations to the National parties were made by corporate/business sectors amounting to Rs 6128.787 cr (92.18% of total donations) while 7900 individual donors donated Rs 505.66 cr (7.61% of total donations) to the parties during FY 2024-25.
2794 donations from corporate/business sectors were made to BJP (Rs 5717.167 cr) while 2627 individual donors donated Rs 345.94 cr to the party during FY 2024-25.
INC received a total of Rs 383.8605 cr via 112 donations from corporate/business sectors and Rs 132.3885 cr via 2357 individual donors during FY 2024-25.
BJP (Rs 5717.167 cr) received more than thirteen times the total amount (Rs 411.62 cr) of corporate donations declared by all other National parties for the FY 2024-25.

Top donors to National Parties, FY 2024-25

Prudent Electoral Trust donated a total of Rs 2413.465 cr to BJP, INC and AAP together and is the top donor to parties that received the maximum donations. The Trust donated Rs 2180.7119 cr to BJP (35.90% of total funds received by the party), Rs 216.335 cr to INC (41.81% of total funds received by the party) and Rs 16.4178 cr to AAP (43.08% of total funds received by the party).
Progressive Electoral Trust donated Rs 834.97 cr from 2 donations, AB General Electoral Trust donated Rs 621 cr through 16 donations, New Democratic Electoral Trust donated Rs 155 cr through 7 donations to BJP and INC.
Serum Institute of India Pvt Ltd donated Rs 100 cr through 3 donations, and Rungta Sons Private Limited donated Rs 95 cr through 4 donations to BJP in FY 2024-25.
For details of top 10 donations to National Parties, refer Annexure-1

Observations and Recommendations of ADR

Observations

INC, CPI(M) and BJP submitted their contribution reports after a delay of 23 days, 66 days and 68 days, respectively.
4 National parties, BJP, INC, NPEP and CPI(M) had not declared PAN details of 205 donations through which the parties collected a total of Rs 3.468 cr (0.052% of the total donations declared by National parties).
3 National Parties (CPI(M)- Rs 23.90 lakhs, BJP-Rs 8.40 lakhs and INC- Rs 6.50 lakhs) have declared Rs 38.80 lakhs from 33 donations having missing/incorrect PAN details.
BJP declared 1656 donations of Rs 224.652 cr, INC collected 515 donations worth Rs 419.474 cr, AAP collected 549 donations of Rs 31.058 cr, CPI(M) collected 303 donations of Rs 8.312 cr and NPEP collected 17 donations of Rs 1.391 cr having incomplete cheque/DD details where cheque number, bank details on which it was drawn and the date on which the cheque was received/encashed is not provided. Thus, without the complete cheque/DD details, it would be a time-consuming process to link the donors against their donations and hence, trace the money trail.
As done for the last 19 years, BSP has declared again that the party did not receive any donations above Rs 20,000.

Recommendations

The Supreme Court gave a judgment on September 13, 2013 declaring that no part of a candidate’s affidavit should be left blank. Similarly, no part of the Form 24A submitted by political parties providing details of donations above Rs 20,000 should be blank.
All donors who have donated a minimum of Rs 20,000 as a single or multiple donations should provide their PAN details.
Introducing a provision where in individual or a company cannot contribute multiple small donations exceeding a total of Rs 20,000 in a financial year, so that parties are not able to bypass the reporting requirement despite receiving a larger overall sum from the same donor.
The National parties should, ideally, lead by example by filing complete and correct statements of donations to the ECI well in time for public scrutiny so as to encourage financial transparency.
It is suggested that the ECI publicize on its website details of the action taken (if any) against political parties that fail to provide required details (such as name, address, PAN and mode of payment) of individuals, companies or entities making donations in cash.
Incomplete contributions reports having missing or incorrect PAN/mode of payment details must be returned to the parties by the ECI, to deter them from providing incomplete information.
The National and Regional political parties must provide all information on their finances under the Right to Information Act. This will go a long way in strengthening political parties, elections and democracy.
Annual scrutiny of donations reports of National, Regional and unrecognized parties should be initiated by a dedicated department of the CBDT, to discourage donations from shell companies or illegal entities.
Reporting and disclosure procedures must be strengthened to ensure that financial reports are audited independently and made publicly available in a timely manner. The development of an online reporting and disclosure platform can improve efficiency and transparency. Provide status updates on the submission of party reports showing which all registered parties submitted on time, which delayed their submission and those which defaulted, including the action taken against such parties by the Commission or other relevant authority.
Corporations should make details of their political contributions available in the public domain through their websites (in annual reports or on a dedicated page) for increasing transparency in political financing.