RTI plea reveals: Official expenses during Modi's visit to US in September 2014 Rs 9 crore, but no MoUs signed

By A Representative
A right to information (RTI) activist has calculated that several RTI requests filed to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), including his own, suggest that Rs 9 crore were spent during Narendra Modi’s much-publicised US visit in September 2014. However, it did not lead to any concrete result -- the activist cites a Government of India document which says that "there were no memorandums of understanding signed during Modi's visit to the US."
Quoted by a news site, the RTI activist, who reportedly did not want to reveal his identity for unspecified reasons, says that he had filed his first request on December 14, 2014 seeking expenses incurred by Modi during his trip to New York and Washington DC.
In response, on February 23, 2015, the activist was told, "by the Prime Minister's Office, "In connection with the Prime Minister’s visit to New York during September 2014, this mission has booked an expenditure of Rs 5,09,66,491.”
The reply states that Modi had spent around Rs 5.1 crore in New York alone, when he visited the United Nations Organization. This made him to file another RTI plea on January 7, 2015, to which the PMO replied suggesting that the expenditure incurred by the Indian embassy Washington during PM’s visit to New York in September 2014 was close to Rs 1 crore.
The replied said, “On behalf of the Embassy of India, Washington DC, (the expense) was US $1,42,261.61 equivalent to INR 88,15,421 and the same has been debited to Emabassy of India, Washington DC.” Over and above this, the activist says, the Indian Embassy in Wasington "also paid over $5,000 or Rs 3,05,700 towards Prasar Bharti’s expenses, also reflected in the RTI reply."
In yet another reply, the activist claims, the PMO had "mentioned the expenditure of over Rs 3 crore during the same US visit, thereby taking the total cost to over Rs 9 crore", adding, however, "The real cost could have been much higher, but the PMO has ‘not been honest’ in divulging all the details."
The activist told the news site, Janta Ka Reporter, ”It’s been a painstaking process to get these information. They are very reluctant in divulging any expense information about the PM’s visit. I had requested for the total cost incurred on PM Modi’s visit till date and the number of MoU signed by him. Unfortunately, all I have got so far expense details on his New York trip, and that too in installments.”
In a reply preceding all these, the PMO, the activist said, "had clarified that Modi had ‘not signed any MoU’ during his US visit", adding, the however, the only thing which was widely reported about "Modi’s maiden US visit as India’s prime minister was his speech at Madison Square before an audience largely consisting of Indian diaspora."
It is not known what were the expenses of Modi's Madison Square show and who paid for him. A large number of those who attended the show were sent from India to the US for the programme organized by a section of the diaspora leaders.

Comments

Beyond India-China borders: Economic links expand, political gaps persist

By Bhabani Shankar Nayak* Despite growing trade between India and China, a persistent trust deficit continues to shape their bilateral relationship. Expanding economic engagement has not fully resolved political differences, many of which stem from historical legacies as well as contemporary geopolitical concerns. Border disputes—often traced to colonial-era arrangements—remain a significant obstacle to deeper cooperation, while differing strategic alignments in global affairs add further complexity.

Gujarat cadre to HDFC: When bureaucratic style hits corporate walls

By Rajiv Shah I was a little amused by the abrupt March 17, 2026 resignation of Atanu Chakraborty —a Gujarat cadre IAS officer of the 1985 batch who retired from the government in 2020—as chairman of HDFC Bank . Much of what may have led to his decision to quit this ostensibly high post—actually a non-executive, part-time role—is by now well known. I followed most of it online with considerable interest, partly because I had interacted with him umpteen times during my stint as The Times of India correspondent in Gandhinagar from 1997 to 2012.

Operation Epic Fury: Making America great at the world’s expense?

By N.S. Venkataraman* The decades-long enmity between Iran and Israel is well-documented, but historically, their direct confrontations have been brief, constrained by the logistical and economic limitations of sustained warfare. The current conflict in the Middle East, however, marks a radical and dangerous departure from this pattern.

India has been getting its economic growth wrong for two decades, say top economists

By Jag Jivan* India's official GDP figures have misrepresented the trajectory of the world's fifth-largest economy for the better part of two decades, according to a major new working paper published by the Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE). It finds that India overstated annual growth by up to two percentage points after 2011 — and understated it during the boom years of the 2000s.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Rajiv Shah Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

'Tax the top': Nationwide protests demand action as 1% control 40% of India’s wealth

By A Representative Civil rights groups across the country observed the martyrdom day of Bhagat Singh on March 23, as people from diverse backgrounds united to raise their voices against growing economic inequality. The mobilisations marked the launch of a nationwide campaign against inequality, running from March 23 to April 14 (Ambedkar Jayanti), under the banner of the “Tax The Top” campaign.

Fair prices, fresh produce: Vegetable market opens in Rajasthan tribal village

By Vikas Meshram* On 18 March 2026, the tribal village of Sajjangarh in southern Rajasthan witnessed the grand and dignified inauguration of a new vegetable market (mandi). Established through the tireless joint efforts of the Krushi Avam Adivasi Swaraj Sangathan (Bhilkuaan) and Vaagdhara, under the active leadership of the Gram Panchayat of Sajjangarh, the market is being hailed as a cornerstone for local self-governance, self-reliance, and a sustainable rural economy.

Ex-IAS Atanu Chakraborty and a tale of two different Gujarat vision documents

By Rajiv Shah The likely appointment of Atanu Chakraborty as HDFC Bank chairman interested me for several reasons, but above all because I have interacted with him closely during my more than 14 year stint in Gandhinagar for the “Times of India”. One of the few decent Gujarat cadre bureaucrats, Chakraborty, belonging to the 1985 IAS batch, at least till I covered Sachivalaya was surely above controversies. He loved to remain faceless, never desired publicity, was professional to the core, and never indulged in loose talk. When he neared retirement, which happened in April 2020, first there were rumours in Sachivalaya that he would be appointed SEBI chairman, and then there was talk he would be chairman (or was it CEO?) of Gujarat International Finance Tec (GIFT) City (a dream project of Narendra Modi as Gujarat chief minister, which as Prime Minister Modi wants to promote, come what may). But, for some strange reasons, and I don’t know why, none of this happened, despite the fact...

Search This Blog