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The government recently told the Rajya Sabha that nearly ₹550 crore has been spent on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s official foreign visits since 2021. The information was given by Minister of State for External Affairs Pabitra Margherita in response to questions from MPs Sanjay Singh and V. Sivadasan.
According to the year-wise figures, the expenditure was about ₹36 crore in 2021, ₹55.82 crore in 2022, ₹93 crore in 2023, ₹109 crore in 2024 and around ₹187 crore in 2025. In 2025, Modi visited 23 countries, including the United States, France, the United Kingdom, China and Japan.
For 2026 up to July, the reported expenditure was approximately ₹74.59 crore. However, the government said that several 2026 figures are provisional because some bills are still being settled. The cost of the June visit to France was also still being calculated, so the final total could rise.
The government defended the expenditure by saying that prime-ministerial visits help India strengthen relations in areas such as trade, investment, defence, technology and energy. It also reported that 316 agreements or MoUs were signed during Modi’s visits since July 2021.
The reply additionally mentioned that India received $381.8 billion in total foreign direct investment between April 2021 and December 2025. However, this is the country’s overall FDI during that period; the parliamentary information does not prove that all of it resulted directly from Modi’s trips.
In short, the main news is that official spending on Modi’s foreign travel increased considerably after 2021, reaching its highest annual level in 2025. Whether this expenditure produced sufficient benefits is a political and policy question; the parliamentary reply mainly provides costs, visits and agreements, not a complete cost-benefit study. Government’s Parliament reply via the MEA, Mint’s detailed report.
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