This is What Political Leaders Invest in?
While equities and mutual funds are also common assets in the portfolios of many political figures contesting the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, fixed deposits and tax-free bonds appear to be among their preferred financial investments. A few even own shares of long-gone companies like Kingfisher Airlines.
Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), headed by Mukesh Ambani, is the most valuable company in the country with a market capitalization of over Rs 8.82 lakh crore. Several leaders own shares of RIL, and their election affidavits reveal that stocks and mutual fund units of Reliance Group, Anil Ambani's younger brother, are also frequently seen.
Some of the most powerful people, including as Prime Minister Narendra Modi, have no exposure to the stock market or mutual funds at all, and the only financial assets they have are bank deposits, tax-free bonds, insurance policies, and products like National Savings Certificates.
A select few can only make direct stock investments in unlisted businesses, including ones that are family businesses.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Amit Shah, has made public a lengthy list of listed and unlisted shares that are owned by both him and his spouse. Several PSUs, as well as businesses from the Aditya Birla Group, Bajaj, L&T, Tata, and both Reliance groups, are among the listed shares in his name, which are worth over Rs 17.5 crore.
Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the Congress, has declared his assets in many mutual funds and his stock ownership in Young Indian. His mother Sonia Gandhi, a prominent party official, has mutual fund units from HDFC, Kotak, Motilal Oswal, and Reliance MF in addition to equity shares of Young Indian and Maruti Technical Services Pvt Ltd.
Supriya Sule, the daughter of seasoned politician Sharad Pawar of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), owns mutual funds in addition to unlisted and listed shares valued at around Rs 1 crore and Rs 6 crore, respectively.
Shares of the Adani Group, the two Reliance groups, several Tata companies, and even Kingfisher Airlines are among the listed companies. Other businesses from the former UB Group include United Spirits, which was sold to the world's largest liquor company, Diageo Plc, by businessman Vijay Mallya, who defaulted on his debt.
Even though Kingfisher shares formerly traded for more over Rs 300 each, they have long since been removed from the stock markets. The stocks finally fell below Re 1, and trading was halted at the end of 2014 as a result of the former luxury airline closing due to growing issues.
Nitin Gadkari, a Nagpur-born union minister and BJP contender, has equity shares in Purti Power and Sugar Ltd., among other companies.
The BJP candidate for Mumbai North Central, Poonam Mahajan, has revealed that her spouse has stated ownership holdings in Reliance Industries, TCS, Vodafone Idea Cellular, and Reliance Power in addition to Kingfisher Airlines.
Priya Dutt, her Congress opponent, has revealed a number of mutual fund and portfolio schemes worth around Rs 14.92 crore. Reliance Industries, Reliance Infra, and Reliance Power are among the listed shares that are reported under her spouse's name.
Milind Murli Deora, a candidate for Congress from Mumbai South, has revealed holdings in mutual funds, structured market products, bonds, PMS accounts, and fixed maturity plans (FMPs).
Urmila Matondkar, a former actress who is running for Congress from Mumbai North, has revealed that she has invested Rs. 28.28 crore in shares, bonds, and mutual funds, as well as around Rs. 6 crore in PMS (portfolio management service) assets. However, she has not divulged the specific stocks or units that she owns.
Another former actress, Jaya Prada, is running for the BJP in Rampur, Uttar Pradesh. She has also declared her investments in a number of listed companies, including Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, Coal India, ITC, MCX, and Energy Development Company Ltd, which is promoted by Amar Singh, her political mentor.
The Congress candidate from Fatehpur Sikri, actor-politician Raj Babbar, owns stock in IL&FS Transportation Networks Ltd.
Union minister and BJP leader Satya Pal Singh has declared investments of Rs 1.5 lakh in bonds and mutual funds under his name, as well as certain equity shares held by his spouse in Reliance Capital and Reliance Industries, among other Uttar Pradesh candidates.
In addition, the spouse of V K Singh, a union minister and Ghaziabad BJP candidate, has made investments in a number of mutual funds.