In response to a right to information request, the Department of Economic Affairs disclosed that the Government of India has disbursed ₹11.61 crore as commission for the sale of electoral bonds across 29 phases.

The government is currently considering the commission for the 30th phase of bond issuance, which would increase the total to ₹12.04 crore. Additionally, a sum of ₹1.9 crore has been allocated for the printing of 682,600 electoral bonds.

The government has disbursed a total of ₹11,60,65,675, inclusive of GST, as commission incurred across 30 phases, out of the total of ₹12,04,59,043. This information was provided in a response dated April 16 received by Commodore Lokesh Batra (retd).

As per the RTI response, the government incurred a total cost of ₹1,90,01,380, inclusive of GST, for printing 682,600 electoral bonds. This expenditure has been fully paid, as confirmed by the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) in their response.

A response dated March 28 from the India Security Press to Batra revealed that the printing cost for the electoral bonds amounted to ₹1,93,73,604. Discrepancies between this figure and the one provided by the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) have raised questions. Despite attempts by HT to seek clarification from both the DEA and ISP, no response has been received as of yet.

According to the response from the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), the government is yet to receive the final bill for printing 8,350 bonds valued at ₹1 crore each.

The government incurred an expense of ₹6,720 for a "Device to verify Mask-A-Print Security." "Mask-A-Print" is a method employed to conceal specific text or images on printed documents, which become visible only when viewed under a specialized film.

Image source: India Today