Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s foreign visits in the last five years cost the exchequer Rs 446.52 crore, the Ministry of External Affairs told the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, PTI reported. Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan, responding to a question, said the figure included expenditure incurred on chartered flights.
Muraleedharan said a cost of Rs 121.85 crore was incurred in 2015-’16, Rs 78.52 crore in 2016-’17, Rs 99.90 crore in 2017-’18, and in 2018-’19, an expenditure of Rs 100.02 crore. In the ongoing 2019-’20 financial year, the expenditure on Modi’s foreign trips has been Rs 46.23 crore so far.
The Ministry of External Affairs has listed 59 visits by Modi after he became prime minister in May 2014. Modi’s next foreign tour is scheduled to start on March 13, when he goes to Belgium for the India-European Union Summit.
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