The acceptance of gifts by any member of an official Indian delegation from a foreign source is regulated by the Foreign Contribution (Acceptance or Retention of Gifts or Presentations) Rules (Rules). These rules require disclosure of specific details regarding any gifts. Analysis of the data on the MEA website indicates that between July 2013 and December 2023, a total of about 4,217 foreign gifts worth about ₹ 21.77 crores were received by Indian delegates. Here is an analysis.
It is a common practice in Diplomacy to exchange gifts or presentations. In India, the acceptance of such gifts by any member of an official delegation is regulated by the Foreign Contribution (Acceptance or Retention of Gifts or Presentations) Rules (Rules). These rules require disclosure of specific details regarding any gifts or presentations (hereafter referred to as “gifts”) received by delegates, including:
- The fact of having received the gift
- The foreign source from which the gift was received
- The approximate market value of the gift
- The date and place of receipt
- Any other relevant information
Delegates must deposit these gifts with the Secretary of their respective Ministry or Department, along with the disclosure of the above details, within 30 days of their return to India. The foreign gifts are then forwarded to Toshakhana in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), which assesses their monetary value. While the gifts valued below ₹ 5,000 are returned to the recipient, those valued at or above ₹ 5,000 are retained in Toshakhana, except a few which are sent for display in libraries and other places.
In this story, we look at numbers related to gifts received by Indian delegates, the categories of delegates, such as Prime Minister (PM), Union Ministers, Officials, and Others, who received these gifts, along with the number of gifts received, their monetary value, and other pertinent aspects.
The data for the story is sourced from Dataful which has curated and made a dataset of foreign gifts data published by the MEA. The data covered for the purpose of analysis in the story is from July 2013 to December 2023.
Limited and Incomplete Data maintained by MEA
The MEA began publishing foreign gifts data in July 2013, with monthly updates since then. However, this data lacks critical and essential details, including:
- The data published is based solely on the disclosures made by recipients & those received in the Toshakhana.
- The data is restricted to gifts received by the delegates of the Government of India, with no information on gifts received by delegates of state governments.
- Although the rules mandate disclosure of the foreign country from which the gifts are received, this information is not available in the MEA’s data disclosure.
- Further, as highlighted in the previous analysis, the MEA does not publish data on gifts given to foreign delegates either during visits abroad or when foreign dignitaries visit India.
Consequently, the MEA’s published data is limited and incomplete, highlighting the need for comprehensive data on both gifts received and those given by Indian delegates.
Over ₹20 Crores worth of Foreign Gifts were received by Indian Delegates between 2013 and 2023
The analysis of data shows that between July 2013 and December 2023, a total of about 4,217 foreign gifts worth over ₹ 20 crores were received by Indian delegates. The greatest number of gifts was in 2018, with 718 followed by 633 in 2023. Excluding 2013, which only covered data from July to December, the lowest numbers were seen in the COVID-19-affected years of 2020, with 105 gifts, and 2021, with 148 gifts as travel restrictions were in place.
The total value of the 4,217 gifts is estimated at ₹21.77 crores. Out of these, 190 gifts were valued at ₹1 lakh or more. The most valuable gift was a Silver Diamond, worth ₹6.7 crores, received by former minister Sushma Swaraj. Other high-value gifts include those worth ₹4 crores, ₹1.25 crores, and ₹1.25 crores, received by officials who held the positions of Foreign Secretary, Deputy Secretary, and the Personal Secretary of the Prime Minister, respectively. These four gifts together account for ₹13.2 crores, approximately 60% of the total value of all gifts received.
Additionally, six other gifts were valued at ₹1 crore or more, while 159 gifts were worth between ₹1 lakh and ₹1 crore. Most of the gifts, 3,375 gifts, had values ranging from ₹100 to below ₹1 lakh. There were 673 gifts that either had no commercial value or whose value was not assessed.
Union Ministers received 65% of Foreign Gifts, while Officials received 30%
For analysis, recipients of foreign gifts disclosed in the Toshakhana have been categorized by their designations, such as the President, Prime Minister, Union Ministers, Officials, and Others.
Of the 4,217 gifts recorded, 952 (22%) were received by the Prime Ministers, and 1,816 (43%) by Union Ministers, accounting for a total of 65%. Officials across various ministries accounted for 1,307 gifts (30%). Vice-Presidents received 94 gifts (2.2%), while the remaining 48 gifts (1.1%) were given to others, including 24 gifts received by Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, who, apart from being a Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha), held no official designation.
When the data is analysed individually, seven delegates received more than 100 gifts, all of whom were either former or current ministers. The highest number of gifts was received by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who received 880 gifts, accounting for 20% of the total. He was followed by Sushma Swaraj with 560 gifts (13%), S. Jaishankar with 387 gifts (9%), Nirmala Sitharaman with 293 gifts (6%), Rajnath Singh with 231 gifts (5%), MJ Akbar with 152 gifts (3%), and Piyush Goyal with 148 gifts (3%).
Among Ministers, 37% of Foreign Gifts were received by Ministers of External Affairs, and 33% by Prime Ministers
Between 2013 and 2023, a total of 28 ministers, including Prime Ministers, received 2,768 foreign gifts out of the 4,217 total gifts reported by the MEA. Notably, four Ministers of MEA, namely Sushma Swaraj, MJ Akbar, former of minister of state for MEA, S. Jaishankar, current minister of MEA, and Meenakshi Lekhi, former minister of state for MEA, received 556, 152, 269, and 51 gifts, respectively. Together, a total of 1,028 gifts at 37% were received by these 4 ministers out of the total 2,768 gifts received by union ministers
Other notable ministers include former PM Manmohan Singh and current PM Narendra Modi, along with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, and Power Minister Piyush Goyal. They received 72, 880, 231, 293, and 148 gifts, respectively. The ministers of MEA and these 5 ministers together accounted for 95% (2,652) of the total gifts received by all 28 union ministers. Notably, each of these 9 ministers received over 50 gifts.
In addition to the 37% of gifts received by Ministers of External Affairs, Prime Ministers received 952 gifts, which constitutes 33% of the total. Collectively, gifts received by Ministers of External Affairs, and Prime Ministers represent approximately 70% of the total gifts received by ministers.
A total of 270 officials received 1,307 gifts between 2013 and 2023. Among them, 12 officials received more than 20 gifts each, 15 received between 10 and 20 gifts each, and 81 received between 2 and 9 gifts each. The highest among officials was S. Jaishankar, who received 118 gifts while serving as Foreign Secretary before becoming the Minister of External Affairs. The other officials who received the most gifts were Vijay Gokhale, Vinay Kwatra, General Bipin Rawat, and Sujatha Singh, who held different official positions.
