Govt spent Rs 416 cr out of Rs 990 cr allocated for G20 summit: MEA

As MoS Muraleedharan shared details of the expenses, he dismissed the claims made by Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut who had said that govt spent more than Rs 4,000 crore on the summit

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) informed the Parliament on Thursday that it spent Rs 416.19 crore on hosting the G20 summit in September, The Print reported. Responding to the question asked by Congress National President Mallikarjun Kharge, Minister of State (MoS) for External Affairs, V Muraleedharan said that the MEA spent this money out of the Rs 990 crore allocated for the event. The money was spent on creating and hosting the website for the event, conference, venue charges, administrative expenses, and branding, among other expenditures.

As Muraleedharan detailed the house on the expenses incurred, he dismissed the claims made by Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut, who had said that the government spent more than Rs 4,000 crore on the summit, the Print report said.

 

G20 Summit: Details of the expenditure

The minister said that as of December 11, the government spent Rs 161.05 crore on conferencing and meetings, Rs 118 crore on hotels and meeting venues, and Rs 49.02 crore on transport.

Muraleedharana said that the government spent Rs 32.50 crore across Delhi on the branding of G20 summit. Apart from this, a sum of Rs 10.31 crore was spent on the summit website and cybersecurity, the report said.

The government also spent on other heads, which included Rs 7.36 crore on special flights, Rs 7 crore on professional services, Rs 2 crore on establishment cost, Rs 3.42 crore on grants, and Rs 25.53 crore on miscellaneous items, the minister told the Parliament.

G20 Summit 2023

The summit was organised from September 9 to 10 in New Delhi under the presidency of India. The delegates included US President Joe Biden, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, among other key leaders. Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Chinese President Xi Jinping, however, remained absent.

The Group of Twenty (G20) comprises 19 countries (Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Türkiye, United Kingdom and United States) and the European Union. The G20 members represent around 85 per cent of the global GDP, over 75 per cent of the global trade, and about two-thirds of the world population.