The State Bank of India sold electoral bonds worth Rs 308.76 crore in January, just before the Tripura, Meghalaya, and Nagaland Assembly elections this month. About 30% of the bonds were sold at the Kolkata branch, and over 60% of the total value was redeemed at the New Delhi branch, according to data obtained by The Indian Express under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
In response to an RTI request on Wednesday, SBI said that during the 25th tranche, from January 19–28, this year, electoral bonds were sold at eight of the 29 branches allowed by the scheme.
There were 437 bonds sold, and 300 of them were each worth Rs 1 crore, which was the highest denomination. With Rs 98.50 crore, the most money was made at the Kolkata branch. Since the scheme started in 2018, the most sales have been made at the Mumbai branch, which came in second with Rs 60.20 crore.
There were 437 bonds sold, and 300 of them were each worth Rs 1 crore, which was the highest denomination.
According to the answer, the amount sold this time was less than half of what was sold during the Gujarat Assembly election campaign in November 2022 (Rs676.2 crore).
When it came time to cash in, 429 bonds were cashed in at six branches. The total value of the bonds was cashed in, except for Rs 26,000. With Rs 193.71 crore cashed at the SBI branch on Parliament Street, the New Delhi branch was still the most popular. In the 25th tranche, Rs 80.50 crore was cashed out at the Kolkata branch.
According to the answer, of the Rs 12,008.59 crore worth of electoral bonds that have been sold so far, Rs 3,225.77 crore came from Mumbai and the most was cashed in New Delhi (Rs 7,797.04 crore out of Rs 11,984.91 crore).
