Illustration by Binay Sinha
Qwik Supply Chain Private, little-known company with a registered address in Navi Mumbai’s Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City (DAKC) and ties with Reliance Industries, gave Rs 395 crore to the BJP and Rs 25 crore to the Shiv Sena, data uploaded by the Dat the election commission announced on Thursday.
Qwik Supply, the third largest donor to political parties using electoral bonds, bought Rs 410 crore worth of bonds between 2021-2022 and 2023-2024 and gave all but Rs 25 crore to the BJP. The amount of Rs 25 crore was given to the Shiv Sena in 2022.
The company, described as a manufacturer of warehouses and storage facilities, did not give money to any other political party, data uploaded by the election commission showed.
Purchases and donations of electoral bonds by Qwik Supply accounted for Rs 1,368 crore from Future Gaming and Hotel Services and Rs 966 crore from Hyderabad-based Megha Engineering & Infra.
Honeywell Properties Private Ltd, another company with a Reliance link, bought bonds worth Rs 30 crore on April 8, 2021 and gave them all to the BJP. When the Reliance link first came to light last week, a Reliance Industries spokesperson said in response to a detailed questionnaire: “Qwik Supply Chain Pvt Ltd is not a subsidiary of any Reliance entity.” However, the company had not commented on its association with the company.
Qwik Supply, an unlisted private company, was incorporated on November 9, 2000, with an authorized share capital of Rs 130.99 crore. The paid-up capital is Rs 129.99 crore.
The company had a turnover of over Rs 500 crore during 2022-2023 (April 2022 to March 2023), but the profit figures were not available. It bought election bonds worth Rs 360 crore in 2021-22 to give away to political parties. In the same year, its net profit was just Rs 21.72 crore. In 2023-24, it bought another Rs 50 crore worth of bonds.
The longest-serving director currently on board is Tapas Mitra – who also sits on the boards of 25 other companies – and was appointed on November 17, 2014.
Mitra is a director of partnership firms such as Reliance Eros Productions LLP and companies such as Jamnagar Kandla Pipeline Company Pvt Ltd. Jamnagar Kandla Pipeline is registered in Ahmedabad at an address shared by some other Reliance companies such as Reliance Paging Pvt Ltd, Jamnagar Ratlam Pipeline Pvt Ltd, Reliance Tankages Pvt Ltd and Reliance Oil and Petroleum Pvt Ltd.
Vipul Pranlal Mehta has been director of Qwik since December 10, 2019. He is also a director of eight other companies including Rel Icons and Traders Pvt Ltd.
Sridhar Titti is the most recently appointed director and will join the board of directors on November 27, 2023.
One of the two directors of Honeywell Properties, Satyanarayanamurthy Veera Venkata Korlep, has been on the boards of several Reliance group companies since 2005. The company also shares its registered address with several group companies.
Filings with the Registrar of Companies (RoC) showed that Reliance Group Support, Reliance Fire Brigade and Reliance Hospital Management together own 50.04 percent of Qwik, which provides logistics and supply chain support to Reliance’s retail unit.
Nexg Devices Pvt Ltd, a company linked to Surender Lunia, bought Rs 35 crore worth of election bonds in May 2019 and November 2022. Another company associated with him, Infotel Business Solutions, bought election bonds worth Rs 15 crore in May 2019.
He was the one who sold 29.18 percent stake in NDTV, owned by Reliance-linked companies, to the Adani Group.
(Only the headline and image of this report may have been reworked by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
First print: March 21, 2024 | 11:59 PM IST