PM Modi's foreign visits cost over Rs 180 cr in 2025
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Live Events as a Reliable and Trusted News Source Addas a Reliable and Trusted News Source Add Now! (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel Prime Minister Narendra Modi's foreign visits to 23 countries in 2025, including the US, the UK, France, China and Japan, cost the exchequer more than Rs 180 crore, according to data shared by the government in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), in a written reply to the Upper House, said expenditure on the prime minister's overseas visits stood at nearly Rs 187 crore in 2025. So far in 2026, the government has spent Rs 74.58 crore on Modi's foreign trips, including his visits to Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand between July 6 and July 11.Minister of State for External Affairs Pabitra Margherita shared the figures in response to questions by MPs Sanjay Singh and V Sivadasan, who sought details of the prime minister's foreign visits since 2021 and the expenditure incurred on each trip.According to the data, the cost of some of Modi's major overseas visits in 2025 included France (Rs 25.6 crore), Brazil (Rs 17.7 crore), the US (Rs 16.5 crore), Saudi Arabia (Rs 15.5 crore), China (Rs 10.6 crore) and the UK (Rs 9.9 crore).The prime minister also visited Mauritius, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Cyprus, Canada, Croatia, Ghana, Trinidad and Tobago, Argentina, Namibia, the Maldives, Japan, Bhutan, South Africa, Jordan, Oman and Ethiopia during the year.The MEA said expenditure on the prime minister's foreign visits in previous years stood at around Rs 109 crore in 2024, nearly Rs 93 crore in 2023, Rs 55.82 crore in 2022 and about Rs 36 crore in 2021.Responding to queries on the purpose of these visits, Margherita said high-level engagements by the prime minister help strengthen India's bilateral, regional and global partnerships across sectors such as trade, investment, technology, innovation, defence, energy and resilient supply chains.The minister also informed Parliament that 316 Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) have been signed during the prime minister's foreign visits since July 2021. India received $381.8 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) between April 2021 and December 2025, he added, while sharing country-wise details of the agreements in a separate annexure.
The BriefWire