Manmohan-Modi foreign travel expenses comparison is incomplete and misleading

A post is being shared on Facebook by many users claiming that PM Modi has spent lesser than Manmohan Singh on foreign trips. Let’s try to analyze the claim made in the post.

The archived version of the post can be found here.

Claim: While Manmohan Singh spent Rs 12 crore per trip i.e. Rs 493 crore on 38 trips, Modi spent only Rs 10 crore per trip i.e. Rs 443 crore on 44 trips.

Fact: The numbers given in the post do not include the bills to be  received and IAF BBJ Flights used by the Modi government. Also, if total travel expenses (Aircraft Maintenance, Flights and Hotline) instead of just expenditure on chartered flights are included, then it is found that Modi spent around Rs. 2000 crore on foreign travel while Manmohan spent around Rs 1350 crore. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.

The details on the foreign visits of Manmohan and Modi can be found on the PM India official website. According to the details provided on the website, it can be concluded that the details given in the post are incomplete. Any foreign visit of a Prime Minister of India includes the travel expenses under three heads:

1. Expenses on Chartered flights – Only the data under this category has been compared in the post. Under this category, the bills for six foreign visits of Modi are yet to be received by the government, so those costs are not included in the numbers given in the post. Also, Modi travelled six trips on IAF BBJ Aircraft for which the government need not pay anything.
2. Aircraft Maintenance – Every year the government allocates a certain amount of money for the maintenance of aircraft used for the travel of VVIPs. In the post, the expenses under this category are not considered while comparing the foreign travel costs under the two Prime Ministers.
3. Hotline – A hotline is established to have secured point-to-point communication. In the post, the cost of these hotlines are also not considered while comparing the travel expenses.

In the post, only expenses on chartered flights are compared but the foreign trips also involve other costs listed above. The total foreign travel costs of Manmohan Singh was around Rs 1350 crores whereas for Modi it is around 2000 crore (this is excluding the bills, which are yet to be received).

The difference between the two will be less than the numbers presented above if they are adjusted for year-on-year inflation. So, the comparison of the two Prime Ministers cannot be made with the incomplete information available and without considering other factors like inflation, type of flights, etc.

Finally, incomplete information and different scenarios are compared to mislead the people.