Energy firm Greenko used its web of 44 entities to buy bonds for YSRCP, BRS, BJP

While corporates do use group and associate firms to buy electoral bonds, Greenko’s footprint in terms of the number of companies involved far outweighs entities and related parties used by other major corporates that have purchased bonds.

In addition to the 44 companies that are part of the Greenko group, three of four directors of another company — Ace Urban Developers — are also associated with a number of Greenko group firms. Ace Urban bought electoral bonds worth Rs 10 crore.

Of the Rs 117 crore worth of bonds bought by Greenko, Rs 55 crore worth were redeemed by the YSR Congress; Rs 49 crore by the Bharat Rashtra Samithi; and Rs 13 crore by the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Money being channeled through an unusually large number of group firms may be seen as an attempt to play down the actual scale of electoral bond purchases and keep the group away from public glare. The exact reasons why Greenko bought electoral bonds through so many group companies are not clear. The Greenko group did not respond to questions sent by The Indian Express.

Among Greenko group companies, Sneha Kinetic Power Projects was the biggest buyer of electoral bonds with purchases totaling Rs 10 crore, as per the data shared by the ECI. Greenko Energy Projects bought bonds worth Rs 8 crore, while Skeiron Renewable Energy Amidyala bought Rs 7 crore worth. Achintya Solar Power, Greenko Rayala Wind Power, Greenko Anantapur Wind Power, and Greenko MP01 IREP each bought bonds worth Rs 5 crore. The rest of the group companies that bought electoral bonds did so in the range of Rs 1 crore to Rs 4 crore.

Apart from the 11 companies that have Greenko in their name, the relationship between the group and the other 33 companies was established through corporate filings, reports, and other documents on the Greenko group’s website, common directors and contact details as per data from the Registrar of Companies (RoC), and other resources including reports and compilations by credit rating agencies.

An illustrative case is that of a firm called Sneha Kinetic Power Projects. Its registered email id in RoC records is secretarial@greenkogroup.com, and the address at which the company’s books of account are to be maintained is listed as the Greenko group’s Hitech City office in Hyderabad’s Madhapur.

As per RoC records, the two individuals listed as directors of Sneha Kinetic Power Projects are also directors on numerous Greenko group companies.

Among other major large corporate buyers of electoral bonds who used multiple group companies were the diversified conglomerate Aditya Birla group (over Rs 565 crore through 10 companies); real estate player K Raheja Corp group (over Rs 80 crore through 10 companies); pharmaceutical major Hetero (over Rs 140 crore through nine companies); Hyderabad-based NSL group (over Rs 50 crore through eight companies); and Bengaluru-based real estate developer Prestige group (around Rs 50 crore through eight companies).

The RP-Sanjiv Goenka group—the fourth-largest buyer of electoral bonds—purchased over Rs 600 crore worth through five companies. The Piramal group and Aurobindo Pharma group bought bonds worth over Rs 100 crore and Rs 85 crore, respectively, through five companies each.

Across corporates, in most cases, the group companies that bought electoral bonds were subsidiaries, step-down subsidiaries, or special purpose vehicles. In the case of a few associate companies, multiple directors were common between them and other companies of that group.

The electoral bonds data does mention buyers who purchased bonds in their individual capacity, and the names in some cases match with the directors and senior management personnel of corporate donors. However, such donors were not considered for the analysis as just their names cannot be considered as unique identifiers to clearly establish their relationship with companies.

Interestingly, many among the major buyers of electoral bonds did not use too many group companies for their bond purchases. The top buyer, Santiago Martin’s Future Gaming and Hotel Services, seemingly bought bonds worth over Rs 1,350 crore through just one company.

Mining and energy major Vedanta also bought over Rs 400 crore worth of electoral bonds through one company. The Torrent group bought bonds worth over Rs 180 crore through two companies, while the Bharti Airtel group used three companies to buy electoral bonds worth nearly Rs 250 crore.

The second-largest buyer — Megha Engineering and Infrastructure (MEIL) — bought bonds worth around Rs 1,230 crore through four group companies. The third-biggest buyer—Keventer group—bought electoral bonds worth over Rs 615 crore through four group companies.