India has lowered its development aid allocation for Bangladesh by 40 per cent in its annual budget for the fiscal year 2024-25 placed in parliament on July 23.
However, Indian govermment has allocated 120 crore rupees for Bangladesh for the current fiscal year, which is down by 80 crore rupees from that of the previous budget, Indian media reports.
A significant portion of the Ministry of External Affairs' (MEA development assistance of 4,883 crore rupees for 2024-25 has been earmarked for countries such as Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Maldives, Afghanistan and Myanmar.
Bhutan has emerged as the highest recipient of India's aid, receiving 2,068.56 crore rupees, less than last year's 2,400 crore rupees.
The provision is for India's multilateral and bilateral aid and assistance programmes to neighbouring and other developing countries in Africa, Central Asia, South Asia and Latin America.
As per the revised estimates for FY24, the Indian government provided 6,541.79 crore rupees to foreign governments, surpassing the budget estimates of 5,848.58 crore rupees.
The estimate for FY25 is 5,667.56 crore rupees.
