New Delhi: While Congress MP Rahul Gandhi finds the stock market “risky” for “financially weak” people, he himself made substantial investments in it during Narendra Modi’s second term as prime minister, making the best of a boom period. His stock market investments were worth Rs 4.34 crore in total as of 15 March, according to the affidavit he has submitted while filing nomination papers for the Wayanad constituency.
This is a substantial rise from 2004, when he contested his first election from Amethi and his affidavit showed investments in several foreign companies adding up to $4,244 (approximately Rs 1.91 lakh at the time). Overall, his assets have multiplied 37 times, growing to Rs 20.40 crore in 2024 from Rs 55 lakh in 2004.
In between, his affidavits for the 2009, 2014 and 2019 elections show that he did not have any stock market investments at those times. The stock market has now returned with the 2024 affidavit.
Shares in companies and mutual funds accounted for 20 percent of all his movable assets in 2024. Come 2024, the share was close to 90 percent.
A look at Gandhi’s investments in the stock market, as shown in his 2024 affidavit, shows that he is bullish on three types of companies — chemicals, banking and finance, and IT & Consultancy. Despite his portfolio being very diverse, 11 companies in these three sectors account for more than 40 percent of its total value.
His most valuable investment is in Pidilite Industries, an adhesive and chemicals company in which he has shares worth Rs 42.27 lakh. The other chemical-sector businesses in his portfolio are Alkyl Amines Chemicals (Rs 7.39 lakh), Deepak Nitrite (Rs 11.92 lakh), Vinyl Chemicals (India) (Rs 3.24 lakh) and Fine Organic Industries (Rs 8.56 lakh).
In banking and finance, Gandhi’s portfolio includes Bajaj Finance (Rs 35.89 lakh) and ICICI Bank (24.84 lakh). He also has shares in four companies in the IT & consultancy sectors: LTI Mindtree (Rs 21.14 lakh), Infosys (Rs 14.22 lakh), Tata Consultancy Services (Rs 9.8 lakh) and Vertoz Advertising (Rs 1.89 lakh).
Three major companies — Asian Paints (paint industry) (Rs 35.30 lakh), Titan Company (luxury fashion industry) (Rs 32.59 lakh) and Nestle India (consumer food industry) (Rs 35.67 lakh) — together account for another 24 percent of his portfolio. These are among his bigger investments.
In the health sector, he has investments in Divi’s Laboratories (Rs 19.76 lakh) and Dr. Lal Pathlabs (Rs 10.43 lakh), accounting for another 7 percent of his portfolio. Other sectors where he has invested are fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), textiles and engineering, among others.
Gandhi has previously expressed caution about the risk of stock market investments for those less well off. In a conversation with former RBI governor Raguram Rajan in December 2022, he had spoken about a security guard who told the Congress leader about his rising investments in Adani Group stocks. “I thought, ‘He is from the salaried class. To do this is very risky for him. He won’t understand the risk,’” Gandhi told Rajan, adding, “I see on TV advertisements that ‘one should invest in stock markets’. Even those who are relatively financially weak, they are also speculating in this. There is a lot of risk in this.”
Also read: Pidilite, Bajaj Finance, Nestle India, Asian Paints & more — companies Rahul Gandhi has invested in
Evolving portfolio
In 2004, just a couple of years after he had returned from London, Gandhi had £23,700 in an account with National Westminster Bank (NatWest) in the UK, and also had sums in rupees in Citibank and UCO Bank. Now, he has accounts only with Indian banks — the State Bank of India (SBI) and HDFC.
He held shares in three international companies in 2004: $2812 (Rs 1.27 lakh) in American semiconductor chip company Intel, $1127 (R. 50,715) in the US firm Palm, which manufactured personal digital assistants, and $305 (Rs 13,725) in Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson.
In addition, he had an 83 percent stake in an unlisted BPO firm he had founded, Backops Services, in which he had invested Rs 2.50 lakh. He is also listed as the proprietor of “Backops Ltd, Europe”, and the affidavit mentions its accounts and bank balances. Backops Ltd UK, co-founded by Gandhi, was in the news in 2019 allegations that it had acquired defence offsets under the United Progressive Alliance government.
Gandhi also declared an investment worth Rs 2,00,000 in an unnamed mutual fund or funds in 2004.
By 2009, however, Gandhi had disinvested from all foreign companies,and also had no investments in mutual funds. According to a report in Business Today that cites UK company filings, Gandhi’s UK-based firm, Backops Ltd, also closed its operations in 2009. By this year, he had also closed his bank account with NatWest.
In 2009, out of his Rs 30.71 lakh of movable assets, mutual funds and shares accounted for 0 percent of investments. However, this changed once again as Gandhi moved towards mutual funds, before diversifying his portfolio into the stock market.
By the 2014 elections, Gandhi had invested in two mutual funds, where his investment was worth Rs 81.28 lakh — 10 percent of his total movable assets. Apart from this, from 2014 onwards, his affidavit also reflects 1,900 shares of Rs 100 each in the company Young Indian, of which he is a director.
Last year, the firm was in the news when the Enforcement Directorate attached properties belonging to it and to The Associated Journals — both Congress-linked entities — in an alleged money laundering case from 2010.
By 2019, he had investments worth Rs 5.17 crore across 10 different mutual funds, apart from Rs 1.9 lakh in Young Indian. This meant nearly 90 percent of his movable assets were in mutual funds.
However, this changed by 2024. Now, he has diversified his investments from mutual funds to include shares in the stock market and sovereign gold bonds in his portfolio. He now has investments worth Rs 4.34 crore in Indian stock markets, Rs 3.81 crore in mutual funds and Rs 15.21 lakh in sovereign gold bonds, apart from holding shares worth Rs 1.9 lakh in Young Indian. These combined accounted for 90 percent of his movable assets. Investments in bonds appeared for the first time in this affidavit.
Also read: CPI’s Wayanad candidate Annie Raja takes swipe at Rahul — availability to constituents ‘not charity’
Other investments, liabilities
Over the years, the value of Gandhi’s other investments has also swelled. His Public Provident Fund (PPF) account with the Post Office has also grown to Rs 61.52 lakh in 2024 from Rs 3.8 lakh in 2004.
While the jewellery in his possession has remained constant — he declared 333 grams in 2004, 2009, 2014, 2019 and 2024 — its value increased to Rs 4.21 lakh by 2024 from Rs 1.25 lakh in 2004.
Gandhi’s liabilities, which were nil in 2004, saw an increase to Rs 23.25 lakh in the form of bank loans in 2009. By 2014, he had a loan of Rs 9 lakh from his mother, Sonia Gandhi, as well as a further Rs 9 lakh liability in the form of security deposits from tenants. His personal loan from Sonia Gandhi decreased to Rs 5 lakh in 2019 from Rs 9 lakh in 2014. However, he was now liable for an additional Rs 67.01 lakh as security deposits.
He had repaid the loan from Sonia by 2024, with his only liability being Rs 49.79 lakh as tenants’ security deposits.
Also read: IUML cadres downplay missing party flags from Rahul’s Wayanad rally — ‘row created out of jealousy’
