The Maldives, which was in hot water over boycott calls, has seen a hike in budgetary allocation for the Maldives from ₹400 crores in 2023-24 to ₹770.90 crores in the current fiscal.
| Photo Credit: AFP

India’s neighbourhood received a substantial share of the annual allocation under the Ministry of External Affairs for the 2024-25 interim budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday. Out of all the countries in the neighbourhood, Bhutan has received ₹2,398.97 crores as allocation for the current fiscal year while Nepal has come second with ₹650 crores for various development projects currently underway in the Himalayan country. For 2024-25, Nepal has received an allocation of ₹700 crores.

The Maldives which has been in news recently because of anti-India protests as well as remarks from its top leadership has seen a substantial bump in allocation. The allocation for the Maldives for 2023-24 was ₹400 crores which went up to ₹770.90 crores this time. This indicates that India is increasing investments in the archipelago nation. 

Indian projects in Bangladesh under current fiscal will receive ₹130 crores and ₹220 crores have been allocated for Afghanistan which is governed by the Taliban that is yet to find official recognition from India. Sri Lanka will receive ₹60 crores of the allocation for the current fiscal. Conflict struck Myanmar has received ₹370 crores in the current fiscal.

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Among the island nations of the Indian Ocean, Seychelles, and Mauritius have received ₹9.91 crores and ₹370 crores respectively in the current fiscal. The port of Chabahar in Iran will receive an ₹100 crores as funding. ₹3,849 crores have been allocated for Lines of Credit under the Indian Development and Economic Assistance Scheme. Reflecting India’s growing engagement with African nations, the budget has allocated ₹200 crores for the African development projects; the figure is as per revised estimate for current fiscal.

Projects with Eurasian countries and Latin American countries have been allocated ₹20 crores and ₹30 crores respectively. Cultural and heritage projects have been allocated ₹10 crores in the current fiscal. The expenditure will increase during 2024 to 2025 and may touch ₹15 crores.