BS CEO poll: Electoral bond saga won't sway voters, say biz captains

Most rate Modi govt highly on governance, development fronts

The controversy surrounding electoral bonds will not influence voters, and therefore, will not affect the upcoming general elections, according to a dipstick survey of 10 chief executive officers (CEOs) by Business Standard.

The nationwide survey of CEOs, 
 

conducted over the weekend, found that all respondents believe that disclosing the names of political donors via electoral bonds will neither influence voters nor affect the results of the Lok Sabha elections.

Following an order from the Supreme Court, State Bank of India (SBI) recently submitted data on the donors and recipients of such bonds to the Election Commission of India (EC). This information was subsequently published on the poll body’s website.

Asked to rate the performance of the Narendra Modi government in its second inning, in terms of governance and 

development, on a scale of 1 to 5 (with 5 being the best and 1 being the worst), the CEOs gave an average rating of 4.1. 

The lowest rating was 3 (from one respondent), and the highest was 5 (from two respondents).

“The past five years have been challenging. However, when viewed against the backdrop of global growth, it’s clear that we have performed well. Therefore, I would give it the highest rating of 5,” said a top executive, who requested to remain anonymous.
 

As many as 30 per cent of respondents said that state funding of elections should be encouraged to prevent corporate/private donations, while a similar proportion disagreed; 40 per cent of respondents did not comment on state funding of elections. “It should be mandatory for both parties and corporations to disclose (donations). The details should be clearly stated in companies’ annual reports and submitted to the Election Commission of India by the parties,” suggested a chief executive officer.

 

Half of the respondents said they do not have a board-approved policy on political donations, while 40 per cent said they do. “Election funding needs a little more transparency. We could learn from how donations are handled in the Western world,” said the CEO of a consumer products company.
 

When asked about their wish list for the government over the next five years, the CEOs mentioned several measures, including the implementation of a national logistics policy, job creation through skill development programmes, and increased support for small and medium-sized enterprises. Reducing regulatory interference to ease business operations was also suggested as a priority for the next government. “There needs to be a greater push towards local production. The rural economy is slowing down, so measures need to be taken to boost rural consumption,” said another CEO.

A top executive said that Indian businesses are dependent on the country’s GDP growth. “We're pleased with the 7.5-8 per cent GDP growth in India, and we hope that growth will continue, regardless of which government is in power. The government’s subsidies to the poor are also being converted into expenditure," said another CEO.

Asked about the most significant constituencies in their view, the CEOs said that seats from where the prime minister, former chief ministers, and senior Opposition party leaders are contesting will be important to watch. Varanasi, Amethi, and Rae Bareli (all in Uttar Pradesh) were cited as the most important constituencies, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi will seek his third term from Varanasi and the other two are pocket boroughs of the Gandhi family (even as Sonia Gandhi who until recently was Rae Bareli MP has been elected to the Rajya Sabha and Rahul Gandhi lost the Amethi seat in 2019). Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Delhi, and Tamil Nadu were among the states to watch, according to the CEOs.

(Dev Chatterjee, Sharleen D'Souza, Raghav Aggarwal, Ishita Dutt, Sohini Das, and Shine Jacob contributed to this report)