Finance minister Jaitley announces guidelines for electoral bonds

In a move aimed at electoral reforms, finance minister Arun Jaitley today announced guidelines for electoral bonds for funding of political parties.

The finance minister said the electoral bonds would be available in multiples of Rs 1,000, Rs 10,000, Rs 1 lakh, Rs 10 lakh and Rs 1 crore.

"Interest-free bonds for donation to political parties can be purchased from SBI for 10 days in the months of January, April, July and October," Jaitley said.

The finance minister in his budget last year had announced the introduction of "electoral bonds" aimed at improving transparency in funding of political parties.

The bonds can only be issued by a notified bank and can be bought using cheques or digital payment, negating the prevalence of hawala money.

All political parties are required to inform the Election Commission about the bonds and from where it would be accessed.