New Delhi: India has halved its improvement help to Bangladesh by half within the 2026-27 Union Funds, decreasing the allocation to Rs 60 crore amid strained diplomatic ties.
It’s the sharpest reduce within the neighbourhood, reflecting the year-long diplomatic freeze between each international locations after the autumn of Sheikh Hasina in August 2024. Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal, in the meantime, noticed a marginal enhance in allocation.
Though India had stored Rs 120 crore for Bangladesh within the 2025–26 Union Funds, revised estimates present that solely Rs 34 crore was prone to be spent. Within the 2024-25 Funds, India maintained sustained funds allocation of round Rs 120 crore, signaling a extra cautious strategy to government-to-government help.
In distinction, India has raised help to Afghanistan by Rs 50 crore, as New Delhi recalibrates its engagement with the Taliban-led administration in Kabul. After severing ties in 2021, India has progressively reopened diplomatic channels.
In October, Taliban International Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi visited New Delhi for talks with Exterior Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar. India has since reopened its embassy in Kabul and hosted Afghanistan’s commerce minister, signaling a coverage of cautious engagement.
Support to Sri Lanka and Nepal was elevated by Rs 100 crore every. Sri Lanka’s allocation additionally went up by Rs 100 crore. Help has centered on infrastructure, capability constructing and financial stabilisation, reinforcing India’s function as a key regional associate.
Nepal will obtain Rs 800 crore, remaining one of many largest recipients of Indian help. India’s largest help recipient, Bhutan has seen a rise of Rs 138 crore from Rs 2,150 crore in 2025 to Rs 2,288 crore within the newest funds.
India not too long ago commissioned a Rs 4,000-crore Line of Credit score, Bhutan’s first, geared toward increasing funding within the power sector. In 2025, the Punatsangchhu-II hydroelectric venture, collectively developed and funded by means of a mixture of Indian grants and loans, was absolutely commissioned, boosting Bhutan’s energy era capability by an estimated 40 %. India has additionally confirmed plans to renew work on the long-delayed Punatsangchhu-I venture.
New Delhi has additionally introduced plans to construct two railway hyperlinks to Bhutan, at an estimated value of over Rs 4,000 crore, connecting Banarhat in West Bengal to Samtse, and Kokrajhar in Assam to Gelephu, tasks geared toward deepening financial integration.
The help to the Maldives was diminished by Rs 50 crore to Rs 500 crore, whereas it went up by 10 % within the case of Mauritius.
Myanmar’s allocation was reduce by about 14 % to Rs 300 crore amid political instability and implementation challenges. Help to African international locations was regular at Rs 225 crore, Latin America’s allocation doubled to Rs. 120 crore, and funding for Eurasian international locations dipped barely to Rs 38 crore.
The federal government has earmarked Rs 5,686 crore for ‘Support to Nations,’ a modest enhance over final 12 months’s estimate however nonetheless about Rs 100 crore lower than the revised allocation for 2025–26.
