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Bhutan biggest beneficiary of India’s external aid portfolio
In keeping with the government’s “Neighborhood First” policy, Bhutan was allocated Rs.2,068 crore from the total external aid portfolio of Rs.4,883.56 crore, including soft loans and grants, for foreign countries
New Delhi: The external affairs ministry was on Thursday allocated Rs.22,154 crore in the budget for 2024-25, up from Rs.18,050 crore in 2023-24, while Bhutan was provided the largest share of the external aid portfolio with an outlay of Rs.2,068 crore.
The government again retained an outlay of Rs.100 crore for the development of Iran’s Chabahar port in the budget for 2024-25, signalling the importance of the facility in regional connectivity efforts. It also retained an allocation of Rs.200 crore for Afghanistan, once the largest beneficiary of external aid.
The total outlay for the external affairs ministry includes expenses on embassies and missions, passport and emigration, external aid for countries and projects abroad, and contributions to bodies such as the Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR) and the South Asian University.
In keeping with the government’s “Neighborhood First” policy, Bhutan was allocated Rs.2,068 crore from the total external aid portfolio of Rs.4,883.56 crore, including soft loans and grants, for foreign countries.
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The outlay for foreign countries included Rs.700 crore for Nepal, Rs.600 crore for the Maldives, Rs.370 crore for Mauritius, Rs.250 crore for Myanmar, Rs.200 crore each for Afghanistan and African nations, Rs.120 crore for Bangladesh and Rs.75 crore for Sri Lanka.
The government has allocated Rs.100 crore for the development of Chabahar port, where an Indian state-run firm operates a terminal, for the last two fiscal years, and the outlay was retained at the same level for 2024-25, underscoring India’s focus on connectivity projects, including the International North-South Transport Corridor.
India has committed grant aid of $85 million and a credit facility of $150 million for developing the Shahid Beheshti terminal at Chabahar port, for which the US has granted a special waiver from sanctions imposed on Iran.
The total development assistance for regions such as Latin America and Eurasia was pegged at Rs.50 crore.
Presenting the interim budget, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the recently announced India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) is a strategic and economic game changer for India and other partners.
“In the words of the prime minister, the corridor ‘will become the basis of world trade for hundreds of years to come, and history will remember that this corridor was initiated on Indian soil’,” she said.
IMEC is perceived as an initiative by India and its partners to enhance connectivity and strategic influence in the face of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which has faced criticism for lack of transparency and disregard for the sovereignty of countries.
