World over, smart politicians tend to gauge the mood of their voters and remain in power, and those who cannot, are pushed to the sidelines! Not without reasons, Indian politicians are doubling down on the investment in share markets, along with their voters (retail investors).
On 28th May, 2024, as the registered investors on BSE crossed 17,40,00,000 mark, surging by 32% in last one year, stock savvy politicians too are on the rise!
From Union Home Minister Amit Shah to Industry Minister Piyush Goel, and from Congress’s Rahul Gandhi to Dr. Shashi Tharoor, are fully invested in share markets. While many of these politicians have been investing since long, some of them, like Rahul Gandhi, seem to have joined the stock investment frenzy after 2019!
Based on the study of affidavits filed by candidates for General Elections 2024, politicians, across regions and political parties seem to have hitched the ride of share market rally, either directly or through mutual funds. Some of them have invested in unlisted private firms too, either own or company of known/ relatives. Many of these politicians have invested in shared themselves, while some of them have been joined by spouses or dependent children too.
Dr. Shashi Tharoor, sitting Congress M.P. from Thiruvantapuram in Kerala and Prof. M. V. Rajeev Gowda, Congress candidate from Banglore North stand out as they have a sizeable investment in U.S. securities or pension funds too, owing to their career aboard.
From opposition parties, Rahul Gandhi, Radhakrishna Doddamani (Congress candidate from Gulbarga in Karnataka and son-in-law of party chief Mallikarjun Kharge), Raj Babbar (actor and Congress candidate from Gurgaon), Tariq Anwar (veteran politician and Congress candidate from Katihar), Virendra Rawat (Congress candidate from Haridwar), Pratap Singh Kharchariyavas (Congress candidate from Jaipur), Ajeet Sharma (Congress candidate from Bhagalpur), Bhushan Patil (Congress Candidate from Mumbai North), Manish Tewari (Senior Congress politicians and candidate from Chandigarh), Mansoor Ali Khan (Congress candidate from Banglore Central), Moh. Javed (Congress candidate from Kishanganj), Anil Desai (Shivsena UBT candidate from Mumbai South Central), Bhagwat Saran Gangawar (SP candidate from Pilibhit), Chandrahasan M (AIDMK candidate from Chidambaram), Dr. Mahendra Singh Nagar (SP candidate from Gautambuddhanagar), Kumar Sarvjeet (RJD candidate from Gaya), Lekhsri Samantsinghar (BJD candidate from Balasore) and Tintisha Hemachandra Sagar (Independent candidate from Banglore South) etc. have investment in listed or unlisted shares or mutual funds or in combination, either in person or along with spouse or dependent children.
Rahul Gandhi, who keeps targeting BJP-led central government for helping businessmen and centralization of wealth in few hands, has investments of Rs. 4,33,60,519 in listed shares and indirect investment of Rs. 3,81,33,572 in stocks through mutual funds. Curiously, he didn’t declare share market investment in his affidavit filed for 2019 elections, so he seems to have caught share market frenzy lately. Moreover, he has an investment of Rs. 15,21,740 in Sovereign Gold Bond scheme too, which was launched by BJP-led central government! Among the stocks, he has invested in companies like Bajaj Finance, Hindustan Uniliver, ICICI Bank, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, ITC, Titan Nestle India etc.
Politicians like Manish Tewari have minimal investments in share market, owing to burning his fingers! He and his wife both have declared shares worth Rs. 683 each in struggling Reliance Power. Likewise, Tariq Anwar too has invested in only one stock. On the other, Dr. Shashi Tharoor has declared investment of Rs. 9,33,44,370 in stock market.
Actors Shatrughan Sinha, once a BJP member and now fighting elections from Asansol in West Bengal on Trinamool Congress ticket, along with his wife, has declared an investment of more than Rs. 5.5 crore in stock market and Rs. 88,95,284 in mutual funds. Another actor Raj Babbar, contesting elections from Gurgaon on Congress ticket, has minimal personal investment of Rs. 1,255 in IL&FS Transportation Networks and Rs. 92,500 in own firms, while his wife Nadira Babbar seems to be more stock savvy with investment of Rs. 13,84,637 in 9 stocks, including own companies and particular liking for Kirloskar group shares.
From the BJP, politicians who have invested in listed or unlisted shares or mutual funds or own firms, include Amit Shah, Anurag Thakur, Piyush Goyal, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Hema Malini, S S Ahluwalia, Tejasvi Surya, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Annamalai K, Arun Govil, Ajay Bhatt, Arvind Khanna, Atul Garg, Basavaraj Kyavater, Jitin Prasada, Dr. Mahesh Sharma, P C Mohan, Rao Inderjit Singh, Sanjay Tandon, Shobha Karandalaje, Subrat Pathak and noted lawyer Ujwal Nikam etc.
Coming from stock market savvy state Gujarat, Amit Shah is clearly ahead of his party colleagues with an investment value of more than Rs. 37 crore in 350 listed and unlisted shares, along with his wife. While a chartered accountant by profession, Piyush Goyal, contesting from Mumbai North, has declared an investment value of more than Rs. 8.5 crore in listed shares, more than Rs. 25.74 crore in unlisted shares, Rs. 29.19 Lakh in mutual funds and Rs. 1.4 crore in bonds.
The young politicians like Anurag Thakur has posed more faith on mutual funds with an investment value of Rs. 2.4 crore vis-à-vis investment in listed shares of Rs. 47,35,981 and Rs. 2,40,000 in unlisted shares. On the opposite his younger colleague Tejasvi Surya has gone all out with investment value of over Rs. 1.79 crore in listed shares and about Rs. 2 crore in 26 mutual funds. Interestingly, his investment in share market reflects mature approach as he has invested in just 8 shares with consistence performance over the years.
Actor and famous for essaying role of ‘Ram’ Arun Govil, who is in fray from Meerut seat on a BJP ticket, has declared an investment of Rs. 1.22 crore and his wife of approximately Rs. 1.44 crore in shares, and Rs. 16.51 Lakh in mutual funds. On the other, tech-savvy investors and minister in outgoing government Rajeev Chandrasekhar seems to be more inclined towards mutual funds and bonds declaring an investment of more than Rs. 7 crore in mutual funds and Rs. 4.44 crore in bonds.
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