Stock market rally shows in some ministers' portfolios: How they fared

The stellar gains made by the stock markets during the financial year 2020-21 boosted the net worth of some of the top ministers.

The latest declaration submitted to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) revealed that the net worth of Home Affairs and Cooperative Minister Amit Shah grew 32 per cent to Rs 37.91 crore, mainly due to 80 per cent appreciation in the market value of securities held by him.

As of March 31, Shah declared a total value of securities of Rs 24.51 crore, which includes Rs 19.66 crore worth of inherited securities and Rs 3.78 crore owned securities. In FY 2020, the total value of securities was Rs 13.5 crore, while it was Rs 17.9 crore in FY 2019.

“The increase in the value of movable property is on account of appreciation in the price of quoted securities. During the year, no major purchase of securities has taken place in comparison to the previous year,” Shah’s declaration note said.

Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal’s stocks also rose about 95 per cent to Rs 5.33 crore compared to Rs 2.72 crore last year. His total net worth stood at Rs 30.26 crore, up from Rs 27.47 crore a year ago.

Benchmark indices ended fiscal 2020-21 with a gain of 70 per cent, most since 2009-10. The BSE midcap and smallcap indices rose 91 per cent and 115 per cent, respectively, in FY21. India’s market capitalisation rose Rs 91 trillion during the year to Rs 204 trillion.

Among the new faces in the Narendra Modi Cabinet, Aviation Minister Jyodradita Scindia reported a net worth of Rs 31.97 crore.

He declared investment in mutual funds of about Rs 11 lakh and Rs 30 lakh in unlisted shares. Railway and Communications Minister Ashwini Vaishnav's declaration showed his holding in three listed stocks including Gujarat State Fertilizers, L&T and Vedanta at a value of Rs 6.23 lakh. Since they joined the Cabinet in the current fiscal, their previous year’s asset declarations are not available.

The Franklin Templeton crisis has also had an impact on some of the ministers’ net worth.  Petroleum Minister Hardeep Puri’s mutual fund portfolio is one example. The disclosure shows, Puri has investments worth Rs 18.6 lakh in Franklin Credit Risk Fund, one of the six schemes wound up by the fund house last year. The scheme created side-pockets on account of default in payment by YES Bank and also mark-down on account of exposure to Vodafone paper.

Puri’s movable assets stood approximately at Rs 2.22 crore which includes Puri's family trust account balance of Rs 60 lakh. In the declaration, he said the increase in the trust balance is due to liquidation of fixed deposits and sale of shares and bonds held by the trust during the fiscal. In FY20, his movable asset was about Rs 1.28 crore. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s net worth as of March 31 was Rs 3.07 crore, up nearly Rs 22 lakh from Rs 2.85 crore last year. His assets have primarily increased due to the bank's fixed deposits receipts.

The movable assets of Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari stood at Rs 4.90 crore in FY21, compared to Rs 5.09 crore in FY20, a decrease of about 19 lakh, according to the declaration.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s declared a residential property worth Rs 99.36 lakh, held jointly with her spouse and non-agricultural land worth Rs 16.02 lakh.

Sitharaman owns no four-wheeler but has declared ownership of a Bajaj Chetak scooter worth Rs 28,200. She has a 19-year home loan, a one-year overdraft and a 10-year mortgage loan. Her movable assets are worth Rs 24.97 lakh. This was mostly in line with her FY20 disclosures.

The net worth of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has also not changed much compared to last year. He has declared Rs 2.24 crore worth of movable assets and Rs 2.97 crore worth of immovable assets. His total assets stood at Rs 5.21 crore against Rs 4.93 crore in FY20. Singh has no exposure to the stock market.