Solar and renewable energy companies emerged as significant political donors in the 2024-25 financial year, channeling millions of rupees to parties across India as the country pushes for a transition to clean energy, according to contribution reports published by The Indian Express.
The Telugu Desam Party received substantial contributions from multiple solar power firms during the year, data from the Election Commission shows. Neemuch Solar Power Private Ltd donated Rs 43.80 lakh while Heremba Renewables Ltd contributed Rs 59.90 lakh. Renew Ranga Reddy Solar Power Private Ltd gave Rs 57.80 lakh and Renew Solar Energy (Jharkhand Five) Private Ltd donated Rs 29.10 lakh to the party led by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu.
Renewable Energy Connection
Other renewable energy companies that funded the TDP included Renew Wind Energy (Rajasthan One) with Rs 43.20 lakh, Shreyas Solar Farms Ltd with Rs 52.50 lakh, and Akhilagya Solar Energy Private Ltd with Rs 30.60 lakh. These donations came during a year when the Naidu government made renewable energy expansion a priority in Andhra Pradesh.
The pattern of donations reveals how corporate interests align with political priorities. The TDP’s contribution report, submitted to the Election Commission, shows the party received Rs 83.03 crore in total donations for 2024-25. This marked a decline of Rs 17.15 crore compared to the Rs 100.18 crore received in 2023-24, according to data published by The Indian Express.
Pharmaceutical companies also featured prominently among political donors. NATCO Pharma from Hyderabad donated Rs 7 crore to the TDP, making it one of the party’s largest corporate contributors. The same company gave Rs 1 crore to the Jana Sena Party, which governs Andhra Pradesh in coalition with the TDP and BJP.
Electoral Trusts Take Center Stage
The highest contribution to the TDP came from Prudent Electoral Trust, which donated Rs 40 crore. Electoral trusts function as intermediaries that pool contributions from companies and individuals before distributing them to political parties. The TDP also received Rs 5 crore from AB General Trust and Rs 4 crore from Triumph Trust.
State TDP president Palla Srinivasa Rao defended the party’s funding model. “For every paisa we get, we are accountable to the donors. Every paisa we get returns to the grassroots workers of our party. For example, we have a healthcare scheme to which we contribute Rs 38 crore, all this comes from donations,” Rao told The Indian Express.
Jana Sena’s Funding Mix
The Jana Sena Party collected Rs 25.33 crore during 2024-25, according to its report submitted to the Election Commission. Construction companies made up a significant share of its donors. RVM Constructions India from Kukatpally in Hyderabad contributed Rs 3 crore while DVK Constructions donated Rs 2 crore.
Individual donors played a major role in Jana Sena’s funding. Ravikumar Akula from Shadnagar in Hyderabad gave Rs 5 crore, the party’s largest single contribution. Another individual, Uddaraju Sri Rama Lakshmipathi Bhoga Raju, donated Rs 1 crore. The party also received Rs 1.5 crore from Sainath ADS in Vijayawada and Rs 1 crore from Miracle Software Systems.
Jana Sena spokesman Ajaya Kumar Vemulapati emphasized small donors. “We thank all those who contributed to the party. But we especially thank those who donated Rs 10 to Rs 20, from their daily earnings. We thank pensioners who donated their pension and our grassroot workers who continue to contribute to the party every month,” Vemulapati told The Indian Express.
The End of Electoral Bonds
The 2024-25 financial year marked the first full year without electoral bonds after the Supreme Court declared the scheme unconstitutional in February 2024. The bonds had allowed anonymous donations to political parties since their introduction in 2017-18. Over the years, parties received more than Rs 16,000 crore through the scheme, with the BJP receiving the largest share.
Former Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had defended electoral bonds when introducing them. “The conventional practice of funding the political system was to take donations in cash and undertake these expenditures in cash. The sources are anonymous or pseudonymous. The quantum of money was never disclosed,” Jaitley had said.
With the bond scheme gone, companies now donate through cheques, demand drafts or bank transfers. Parties must declare all donations above Rs 20,000 in their contribution reports submitted to the Election Commission.
BJP Dominates Political Fundraising
The BJP dominated political fundraising in 2024-25, collecting Rs 6,088 crore compared to Rs 3,967 crore the previous year. This represented a 53 per cent increase.
Electoral trusts donated Rs 3,744 crore to the BJP, accounting for 61 per cent of its total contributions. The remaining Rs 2,344 crore came from companies and individuals.
Major companies lined up to fund the ruling party. Serum Institute of India donated Rs 100 crore, Rungta Sons Private Limited gave Rs 95 crore, and Vedanta Limited contributed Rs 67 crore. Macrotech Developers donated Rs 65 crore while Derive Investments gave Rs 53 crore.
Other significant BJP donors included Modern Road Makers Pvt Ltd with Rs 52 crore, Lotus Hometextiles Limited with Rs 51 crore, and Safal Goyal Realty LLP with Rs 45 crore. ITC Limited contributed Rs 39 crore and Global Ivy Ventures LLP gave Rs 35 crore.
Opposition Parties See Sharp Decline
Opposition parties saw their funding decline sharply, according to data compiled by The Indian Express. The Congress received Rs 522.13 crore, down 43 per cent from Rs 1,129 crore in 2023-24. The Trinamool Congress collected Rs 184.08 crore compared to Rs 618.8 crore the previous year. The Bharat Rashtra Samithi registered just Rs 15.09 crore, a steep drop from Rs 580 crore.
The Aam Aadmi Party bucked the trend, reporting Rs 39.2 crore compared to Rs 22.1 crore in 2023-24. The Biju Janata Dal managed Rs 60 crore, down from Rs 246 crore in the previous fiscal year.
The BJP’s corpus proved almost 12 times larger than that of the Congress. When donations to a dozen opposition parties are combined, they total Rs 1,343 crore. The BJP alone received 4.5 times this combined amount.
What This Means for Democracy
The concentration of donations raises questions about corporate influence in politics. Electoral trusts, while legal, make it difficult to trace which specific company funded which party. The trusts pool contributions from multiple firms before distributing them, obscuring direct links between donors and recipients.
The renewable energy sector’s donations to the TDP coincided with the party’s push for clean energy projects in Andhra Pradesh. The Naidu government has announced plans to expand solar and wind power capacity in the state. Whether corporate donations influenced policy decisions remains unclear, but the timing suggests alignment between business interests and political priorities.
The contribution reports cover the period from April 2024 to March 2025, a year that saw the Lok Sabha elections and Assembly polls in several states including Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Delhi. The TDP-Jana Sena-BJP alliance swept to power in Andhra Pradesh in June 2024, winning both Assembly and Lok Sabha seats.
Political funding patterns reveal how money flows through India’s democratic system. Large corporations and wealthy individuals provide the bulk of declared donations, particularly to the ruling party. Smaller parties depend more heavily on electoral trusts and individual contributors. The end of electoral bonds brought greater transparency, but questions about corporate influence persist as companies continue finding channels to fund politics.
Support us to keep independent environmental journalism alive in India.
Keep Reading
Small Wild Cats in Big Trouble: India’s First National Report Released
After Tragedy, Families Face Delays in Tiger Attack Compensation
Stay connected with Ground Report for underreported environmental stories.
