July 23 (The Hindu) -  Sri Lanka, which has a number of India-funded projects, has received ₹245 crore, an improvement of ₹95 crore over last year’s funding of ₹150 crore. 

This increase is part of the Indian Union Budget 2024-25, which allocates more funds to neighboring countries.

The additional funding aims to support various developmental projects and strengthen bilateral relations. 

Nepal secured an allocation of ₹700 crore, which is a jump of ₹150 crore from previous year’s allocation of ₹550 crore while Seychelles, which had an allocation of ₹10 crore, has also received a boost in funding with the infusion of ₹30 crore.

Bhutan, the largest recipient of the annual allocation under the MEA, has seen a dip in funding by ₹332.02 crore. Total funding for Bhutan this year stands at ₹2,068.56 crore. Similar dips were seen for Myanmar, Mauritius, Bangladesh, and Mongolia.

Conflict-torn Myanmar, which had an allocation of ₹400 crore last year, received ₹250 crore this year. Mauritius, with an allocation of ₹370 crore, has received ₹90.79 crore less than the previous year. The allocation for Mongolia, which earlier received ₹7 crore, has been scaled down to ₹5 crore.

Allocation for Bangladesh has dropped by ₹80 crore to ₹120 crore. Both Afghanistan and the Maldives, with ₹200 crore and ₹400 crore, respectively, have secured the same allocation as last year.

The Budget also allocated an additional ₹5 crore for MEA’s ‘Aid for Cultural and Heritage Projects’, bringing the total allocation to ₹15 crore.