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India, once again, has earned plaudits for being among the first responders during the moment of crisis next door, and a reliable partner to the Global South for humanitarian needs.
New Delhi was quick in delivering aid to Myanmar when a 7.7-magnitude earthquake hit the country two weeks ago. Sajjad Mohammad Sajid, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Myanmar, praised India’s rapid deployment of resources.
According to a response by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), India’s aid for disaster relief increased from ₹1.6 crores in 2022-23 to ₹41.18 crores in 2023-24. In the current financial year, these figures were ₹27.88 crores till January, 2025.
But where does India stand in granting aid -- overall including disaster relief -- to relatively underdeveloped nations at a time when the new US administration has temporarily hit the pause button on all foreign aid.
What does the data suggest?
According to a background paper by Observer Research Foundation (ORF) America, India’s aid as a share of gross domestic product was 0.01 per cent in 2022. The US and Japan had the figures of 0.22 per cent and 0.5 per cent respectively in the same year. China’s numbers were just a shade above India at 0.02 per cent.
In this century (2000-2024), Bhutan was the biggest beneficiary of grants provided by India with an amount of $8.3 billion. Afghanistan and Nepal were a distant second and third as they received grants worth $1.19 billion and $1.15 billion respectively. Bangladesh and Myanmar received the least amount of funds from India among the neighbouring countries of India.
MEA’s recent response in Parliament said that Bhutan was still the highest recipient of India’s foreign aid at ₹ 1,019.74 crore in 2024-25 till January, 2025.
This accounted for a share of roughly 30 per cent in the total aid given by India in this period.
