Facing GST heat | A telling pattern: In pharma, different firms buy electoral bonds on same days
From pharmaceutical companies buying electoral bonds en masse in 2022 to construction companies lining up to purchase them in 2019 and 2023, the electoral bonds data released by the Election Commission of India reveals a telling pattern: companies in specific sectors bought bonds in apparent tandem over a span of just a few days. In some cases, this coincides with regulatory or investigative action some of them faced.
An illustrative example: On one particular day, November 10, 2022, major pharma companies including Cipla, Dr Reddy’s, and Ipca Laboratories purchased bonds totalling close to Rs 50 crore. A day later, Glenmark and Mankind also purchased bonds in several tranches worth over Rs 30 crore. Three days later, on November 14, Alembic Pharmaceuticals, Alkem Laboratories and Piramal bought bonds worth over Rs 20 crore.
Incidentally, in March 2022, the Directorate General of Goods and Services Tax Investigation (DGGI) had started a probe against several pharmaceutical companies for alleged tax evasion including Glenmark Pharma, Cipla, Mylan and Aurobindo Pharma.
