Ninety-nine trips, ₹815 crore: Inside PM Modi’s overseas travel record

The disclosures offer a detailed snapshot of how frequently he travels, which countries dominate his itinerary and what that outreach has cost the exchequer. Overseas travel has been a central plank of Modi’s diplomatic strategy, with the prime minister frequently engaging global leaders in person.

A Mint analysis of the data shows that, adjusted for inflation, the total outlay amounts to just over ₹1,000 crore in current prices. In all, Modi has spent 352 days abroad across his three terms. The figures include expenses on accompanying officials, security and media delegations.

A comparable aggregate expenditure number for his predecessor, Manmohan Singh, is not available, as official disclosures for that period provide only spending on chartered flights. Records show Singh undertook 73 foreign trips over 10 years, visiting 46 distinct countries.

On average, the data suggests Modi travels abroad roughly once every six weeks. A trip typically lasts 3.6 days and costs ₹10.2 crore at today’s prices. Of the 99 visits, 31 lasted five days or more, and 42 covered more than one country. Several were multilateral engagements, such as summits and conferences, rather than bilateral state visits.

Inflation adjustments have been made using the 2012 series of India’s consumer price index (CPI). Direct cost comparisons between Singh and Modi are not definitive, given different CPI base years across the two tenures. The duration calculation counts both departure and return dates as full days. Expenditure data for the last three trips, undertaken between December 2025 and February 2026, are not yet available.

Modi’s early years in office were marked by an especially brisk travel calendar. He spent the most days abroad in 2015 (53 days), followed by 2018 (47 days) and 2025 (43 days). The pandemic briefly halted foreign travel, with no overseas visit in 2020, but the schedule and the bill have since climbed again.

In spending terms, 2025 stands out as the most expensive year for overseas travel, even after adjusting earlier years for inflation. This includes his February visit to France ( ₹25.6 crore), where he co-chaired the AI Action Summit. His five-nation tour of Ghana, Trinidad and Tobago, Argentina, Brazil and Namibia during 2–9 July 2025 ( ₹38.1 crore) was one of his longest stints abroad. He has undertaken two nine-day trips and two other eight-day visits during his tenure.

The single most expensive trip remains his September 2019 visit to the US, which cost ₹37.7 crore at the time ( ₹51.1 crore in current prices). During that week-long tour, he attended the ‘Howdy Modi’ community event in Houston, which drew around 50,000 attendees. The second most expensive outing, also to the US in September 2015, cost ₹16.9 crore then, or ₹26.8 crore in current prices.

The US and France dominate the high-spending list, with four US visits and two France visits featuring among the 10 costliest trips.

He has travelled to the US 10 times since 2014, making it his most visited country. Singh also visited the US 10 times, making it his most frequent destination. Modi has visited Japan eight times, and Russia, France and the United Arab Emirates seven times each. China ranks sixth with six visits. His most recent trip to China came last year for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in September, his first visit in seven years amid strained ties after the Galwan Valley clash in 2020.

Within the neighbourhood, China is his most visited country. Nepal has seen five visits, while Bhutan and Sri Lanka have hosted him four times each. Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar have been visited twice each over more than 11 years, while Pakistan has seen just one visit—a brief, unplanned stopover in 2015 while returning from Afghanistan, coinciding with then prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s birthday.

In spending terms, the US accounts for 19.3% of total outlays on foreign trips. France follows with 8.7%, then Japan (7.0%) and Germany (6.5%). Russia ranks fifth at 5.4%. Together, the top 10 countries account for a substantial share of overall expenditure, suggesting that both visits and spending are concentrated among a relatively small group of strategic partners.