New Delhi: The Union government spent Rs 416.19 crore out of the allocated Rs 990 crore on hosting the G20 summit in September, the Ministry of External Affairs informed Parliament Thursday. This included conferencing, venue charges, website creation and hosting, administrative costs and branding, among other expenses.
Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan disclosed the details in response to a question by Rajya Sabha MP and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge. He also denied a claim by Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut that the government had spent over Rs 4,000 crore on the summit.
Giving details of the expenditure as of 11 December, Muraleedharan said 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.
The G20 branding across Delhi cost about Rs 32.50 crore. The government also spent Rs 10.31 crore on the summit website and cybersecurity. Other expenses 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 summit, held from 9 to 10 September, was India’s first G20 Heads of State and Government Summit. While about 43 heads of delegations — including the US President Joe Biden, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak —attended the event, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping were absent.
The summit hosted more than 200 meetings with over 100,000 participants from 135 nationalities in 60 cities. It was widely praised for achieving a joint communiqué, the 83-paragraph-long New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration, despite disagreements over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Other meetings only produced a chair’s summary and outcome document.
Besides this, the summit also initiated the ‘Global Biofuel Alliance’ — a project to promote the use and supply of eco-friendly biofuels — and the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEEC), which seeks to enhance the links between Asia, the Middle East, and Europe.
(Edited by Richa Mishra)
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