The Union Budget has increased the allocation for the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) by 15.45%. The total allocation of ₹20,516.61 crore made for the annual requirements of the MEA is, however, without the EXIM bank provisioning that is also part of the MEA’s annual budget plans.
The Ministry has received ₹6,750 crore comprising 33% of overall budget for development partnership which is an increase of around 20% over previous year’s allocation of ₹5,667.56 crore.
A total of ₹4,320 crore has been allocated for immediate neighbours which is meant for infrastructure projects such as hydroelectric plants, power transmission lines, housing, roads and bridges in the South Asian neighbourhood. In the neighbourhood, Maldives got the highest increase apart from Bhutan which is traditionally the largest recipient of allocation under the MEA budget. There was no cut for Bangladesh, which is beset with political instability, with the allocation remaining ₹120 crore like last year.
Nepal, which receives allocation from the MEA’s annual budget, has retained ₹700 crore as its allocation.
The allocation for creating new missions was hiked by 9%. The allocation for maintaining embassies and missions abroad during the last financial year was ₹3,969.19 crore and that for 2025-26 is ₹4,206.22 crore. MEA has allocated ₹20 crore for cultural projects under the 2025-26 Budget.
The biggest increase, however, has come for the passport centres as the current allocation of ₹1,913.47 is a substantial jump over the previous year’s allocation of ₹970 crore for the same segment. The budgetary allocation is a dynamic process and may change later based on requirements.
Published – February 01, 2025 09:30 pm IST
