Government spent nearly Rs. 1,500cr on Modi's 84 country visits
Since becoming PM in May 2014, the government has spent over R. 1,484cr on chartered flights, maintenance of aircraft and hotline for Narendra Modi's foreign visits. Rs. 387.26cr and Rs. 1088.42cr was spent under the first two heads respectively from June 15, 2014 to June 10 this year. The expenditure on hotline was Rs. 9.12cr. With 84 country visits, that's Rs. 31cr per trip.
Modi has visited 10 countries till now in 2018-19
According to Junior External Affairs Minister VK Singh, Modi visited the maximum of 24 countries in 2015-16, followed by 19 in 2017-18 and 18 in 2016-17. The lowest, 13, was in 2014-15. The first trip as PM was to Bhutan in June'14, days after he was sworn in. This year, he has visited 10 countries so far, with the last being China in June.
"First-ever visits to several countries at the head-of-government level"
The figures provided didn't include expenses on hotline during foreign visits in 2017-18 and 2018-19, or on chartered flights in 2018-19. But the outreach set records, Singh said. "Diplomatic outreach has included first-ever visits from India to several countries at the head of government level." This had led to enhanced involvement of India's foreign allies in its flagship programs.
