MUMBAI/NEW DELHI, March 15 (Reuters) - A little-known

Indian company, Qwik Supply Chain, which purchased $50 million

worth of bonds for political donations via an opaque scheme is

affiliated to billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance group,

regulatory filings show.

India's Election Commission on Thursday made public details

of companies and individuals who bought electoral bonds, which

permitted unlimited, anonymous political donations since 2018.

The Supreme Court of India banned these instruments on Feb.

15, calling them "unconstitutional" and saying contributions "by

companies are purely business transactions made with the intent

of securing benefits in return."

Qwik Supply Chain was the third largest donor using these

bonds, following Indian lottery firm Future Gaming, which paid

$165 million, and infrastructure company Megha Engineering which

bought bonds worth $117 million, the Election Commission data

showed.

While the data released revealed donor identities, it does

not show which party they donated to. Corporate funding is a

sensitive subject in India and Thursday's disclosure has become

a hot topic as critics often say such bonds helped companies

hide their donations to avoid any potential allegations of

winning favours from a ruling party.

Qwik Supply Chain, headquartered near Mumbai, bought bonds

worth 4.1 billion rupees ($50 million) in 2022 and 2023, the

data shows.

The company's latest financial statement for the year to

March 2023 filed with the Indian government shows that at least

three companies - Reliance Group Support, Reliance Fire Brigade

and Reliance Hospital Management - together own 50.04% of its

stake.

The three companies have the same office addresses as other

Reliance businesses in Mumbai, corporate filings show.

Reliance said late on Thursday that Qwik "is not a

subsidiary of any Reliance entity", without elaborating. It did

not respond after Reuters shared the regulatory papers and

shareholding details linking it to Reliance.

Qwik's company secretary Anushree Bhargava, who has a

Reliance Industries Ltd corporate email address in Qwik's

regulatory filings, also did not respond to a request for

comment.

India's Ministry of Corporate Affairs, where regulatory

filings are made, did not immediately respond to queries.

LOGISTICS COMPANY

A source with direct knowledge said Qwik is Reliance's

internal logistics and supply chain company which works closely

with Reliance's retail unit.

Qwik generated revenue of 157 billion rupees ($1.9 billion)

for the year to March 2023, according to its annual financial

statement filed to the Indian government.

North Eastern Carrying Corporation, an Indian

logistics company, in 2022 told Indian stock exchanges in a

filing that it had won a work order from Qwik, which it

described as "a subsidiary of Reliance Industries".

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party was

the biggest recipient of the electoral bond scheme, receiving

55% of the 120.1 billion rupees worth of bonds between January

2018 and January 2024 from unnamed donors.

Other top corporate buyers of the bonds include mining giant

Vedanta and Indian telecom group Bharti Airtel, data released on

Thursday showed.