Multiple posts going viral on social media platforms claim that PM Modi has spent less than Manmohan Singh on foreign trips (here, here, here, and here). Some posts claim that Manmohan Singh spent ₹1,350 crore on 72 foreign visits (an average of ₹18.75 crore per trip), while Modi spent only ₹259 crore on foreign visits (an average of ₹6.81 crore per trip). Another post claims that Dr Manmohan Singh spent ₹642 crore on foreign visits over ten years, whereas Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spent ₹258 crore in 11 years. Through this article, let’s fact-check the claims made in these posts.

Fact: These posts compare the expenditure incurred on foreign visits by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over a nine-year period with that of Prime Minister Narendra Modi over a two-and-a-half-year period. According to data provided by government of India, nearly ₹259 crore was spent on Narendra Modi’s 38 foreign trips between May 2022 and December 2024 and over ₹2,000 crore was spent on Modi’s 84 foreign trips between 2014 and 2018. According to reports, Manmohan Singh undertook 38 foreign trips during his second term (2009–2014), incurring a total cost of approximately ₹1,346 crore. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
The claims are misleading. While the amounts quoted are accurate, the time frames referenced are not.
Upon conducting a relevant keyword search, we found multiple reports (here, here, and here) recently published in March 2025 regarding Modi’s foreign travel expenditure. According to these reports, based on data provided by the government in Parliament on 20 March 2025, nearly ₹259 crore was spent on Narendra Modi’s 38 foreign trips between May 2022 and December 2024.
In response to a question from Mallikarjun Kharge in the Rajya Sabha regarding the total expenditure on arrangements for the Prime Minister’s foreign trips over the past three years (2022, 2023, 2024), Minister of State for External Affairs Pabitra Margherita provided details of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s foreign travel expenses. According to the information shared in this reponse, nearly ₹259 crore was spent on Modi’s 38 foreign trips during this period. The most expensive trip was to the United States in June 2023, costing over ₹22 crore. From this information, it is clear that ₹258 crore was spent on 38 foreign visits by Prime Minister Modi over a two-and-a-half-year period from May 2022 to December 2024.

The details on the foreign visits of Manmohan and Modi can be found on the PM India official website. According to the information available on this website, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh undertook 73 foreign visits during his tenure from May 2004 to May 2014. In the period from 2004 to 2009, Dr Singh made 35 foreign trips. During his second term (2009–2014), he undertook 38 foreign trips, bringing his total to 73 visits over two terms spanning ten years.
According to a report by ‘The New Indian Express’ published in December 2018, Manmohan Singh undertook 38 foreign trips during his second term (2009–2014), incurring a total cost of approximately ₹1,346 crore. In comparison, Narendra Modi made 48 foreign visits between May 2014 and December 2018, costing the exchequer nearly ₹2,021 crore.

Multiple (here, here, and here) news reports in 2018 stated that the then Minister of State for External Affairs, V. K. Singh, disclosed in Parliament that over ₹2,000 crore was spent on Modi’s 84 foreign trips between 2014 and 2018.
On 12 December 2018, in response to a question posed by Binoy Viswam in the Rajya Sabha regarding the Prime Minister’s foreign trips from 2014 to 2018, Minister of State for External Affairs V. K. Singh provided details of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s foreign travel and its expenses. According to the information shared, over ₹2,000 crore was spent on Modi’s 84 foreign trips during this period.

According to a report published by ‘The New Indian Express’ in April 2015, in response to an RTI filed by activist Daniel Jesudass, the Prime Minister’s Office stated that between May 2004 and March 2013, the government spent approximately ₹676 crore exclusively on Manmohan Singh’s foreign visits during his nine-year tenure. He travelled to 36 countries during this period. As per the reply, Manmohan Singh’s first visit to Bangkok, from 29 July to 31 July 2004, cost the government ₹5,38,95,000. His last visit, to South Africa on 25 March 2013, incurred an expenditure of ₹10,94,79,000.
According to the data available on the Prime Minister’s official website, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made his first foreign visit to Bangkok in July 2004 and his last foreign visit to Myanmar in March 2014. This data includes the dates of the visits and the expenses incurred on chartered flights. According to the available information, the former Prime Minister undertook 73 foreign visits during his tenure from 2004 to 2014, with total travel expenses on chartered flights amounting to approximately ₹795 crore.

Earlier, a similar claim went viral, stating that PM Modi had spent less than Manmohan Singh on foreign trips. Debunking this, Factly published a fact-check article.
To sum it up, these posts are misleading as they compare the foreign travel expenditures of former PM Manmohan Singh over a nine-year period with those of PM Modi over a two-and-a-half-year period.
(This story was originally published by factly.in, and republished by english.varthabharati.in as part of the Shakti Collective)
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Deir al-Balah (Gaza Strip) (AP): The Israeli military said Sunday it would pause fighting in three populated areas of Gaza for 10 hours a day and open secure routes for aid delivery to desperate Palestinians, launching a series of steps meant to address a surge in hunger in the territory as Israel faces a wave of international criticism over its conduct in the 21-month war.
The military said it would begin a “tactical pause” in Gaza City, Deir al-Balah and Muwasi, three areas of the territory with large populations, to “increase the scale of humanitarian aid” entering the territory.
The pause would begin every day at 10:00 am to 8:00 pm local time until further notice, beginning Sunday.
The military also said Sunday that it carried out aid airdrops into Gaza, which included packages of aid with flour, sugar and canned food.
Food experts have warned for months of the risk of famine in Gaza, where Israel has restricted aid because it says Hamas siphons off goods to help bolster its rule.
Images emerging from Gaza in recent days of emaciated children have fanned global criticism of Israel, including by close allies, who have called for an end to the war and the humanitarian catastrophe it has spawned.
Israel said the new measures were taking place while it continues its offensive against Hamas in other areas.
The local pause in fighting came days after ceasefire efforts between Israel and Hamas appeared to be in doubt. On Friday, Israel and the U.S. recalled their negotiating teams, blaming Hamas, and Israel said it was considering “alternative options” to ceasefire talks with the militant group.
After ending the latest ceasefire in March, Israel cut off the entry of food, medicine, fuel and other supplies completely to Gaza for 2 ½ months, saying it aimed to pressure Hamas to release hostages.
Under international pressure, Israel slightly eased the blockade in May. Since then, it has allowed in around 4,500 trucks for the UN and other aid groups to distribute. The average of 69 trucks a day, however, is far below the 500 to 600 trucks a day the UN says are needed for Gaza. The UN says it has been unable to distribute much of the aid because hungry crowds and gangs take most of it from its arriving trucks.
As a way to divert aid delivery away from the UN, Israel has backed the US-registered Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which in May opened four centers distributing boxes of food supplies. More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since May while trying to get food, mostly near those new aid sites, the UN human rights office says.
Israel has railed against the UN throughout the war, saying that its system allowed Hamas to steal aid, without providing evidence. The UN denies that claim and says its delivery mechanism was the best way to bring aid to Palestinians.
The military said the new steps were made in coordination with the U.N. and other humanitarian groups.
Much of Gaza's population, squeezed by fighting into ever tinier patches of land, now relies on aid.
The war began with Hamas' Oct 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, when militants killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 hostages. Hamas still holds 50 hostages, more than half of them believed to be dead.
Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 59,700 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Its count doesn't distinguish between militants and civilians, but the ministry says that more than half of the dead are women and children. The ministry operates under the Hamas government. The U.N. and other international organisations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties.