Union Budget 2025 India increased financial assistance to Maldives know who is first in the list

Union Budget 2025: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman introduced the General Budget 2025-26 on Saturday (January 1), in which an expenditure of Rs 50,65,345 crore has been envisaged. This amount is 7.4 percent more than the current financial year.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has allocated Rs 5,483 crore for assistance to foreign countries, which is slightly less than the previous year’s revised Rs 5,806 crore. The total budget of the Ministry of External Affairs is Rs 20,516 crore.

On top of Bhutan list

India will provide the most help in 2025-26. Bhutan will get Rs 2,150 crore. This is more than the allocation of Rs 2,068 crore in the previous year. India remains the primary development partner of Bhutan, which is funded for infrastructure, hydroelectric projects and economic cooperation.

Increased budget for Maldives

India’s allocation for Maldives has increased from Rs 400 crore to Rs 600 crore. This has happened at a time when the Maldives is trying to improve relations with New Delhi after the tension over the pro -China after the election victory of President Mohammad Muizu.

Afghanistan’s assistance decreased

Afghanistan was given a assistance amount of Rs 200 crore last year, which has come down to Rs 100 crore in 2025-26. This is much less than Rs 207 crore given two years ago. India has been cautious in its behavior with the Taliban government and has confined its participation to humanitarian aid and economic cooperation.

Increase in assistance to Myanmar

In Myanmar’s budget, Rs 350 crore has been increased from Rs 250 crore to Rs 2025-26 in Myanmar. This has been done amidst the ongoing turmoil in the country. The central government has recently tightened the rules of movement of people on the Indo-Myanmar border. According to the new rules, movement from 16 km to 10 km is prohibited under the Free Movement Regime (FMR) on both sides.

Allocation for other countries

India has retained its allocation for Nepal at Rs 700 crore. The allocation for the endless neighbor Sri Lanka has been increased from Rs 245 crore to Rs 300 crore, because this country is recovering from economic recession. After the removal of former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina last year, the assistance to Dhaka to Dhaka remains unchanged at Rs 120 crore amid diplomatic differences between the two countries.