India 'heavily' borrowed money to fund projects promised by Modi during polls: TMC MP

New Delhi, Sep 17 (PTI) Trinamool Congress MP Saket Gokhale on Wednesday alleged that the Union government has "heavily" borrowed money from international banks to fund projects announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during elections and the people of India will be repaying this foreign debt for decades to come.

In a post on X, the TMC MP said India has borrowed USD 91 billion from foreign banks in the last seven years.

"Today, for Modi’s birthday, the government will announce mega projects as 'gifts' to the people. Every time there’s a state election, Modi makes regular campaign visits and announces projects worth lakhs of crores," he said.

"Over the last 7 years, the Modi Govt has heavily borrowed money from international banks to fund projects that Modi announces during elections," Gokhale said.

The TMC leader also shared data given in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha by the Finance Ministry in December 2023 on loans availed from foreign multilateral financial institutions and banks.

"India has borrowed $91 billion (Rs 8,035,300 crore) from foreign banks in just 7 years. Foreign debt of Rs 8 lakh crore in 8 years means an average of Rs 1.2 lakh crore per year," Gokhale said.

"On this amount, India pays an annual interest of Rs 45,000 crore. That’s only the interest. The repayment of the actual loan principal is separate," he said.

He said the annual interest of Rs 45,000 crore paid on this foreign debt taken from 2018 is equal to India’s "entire annual budget on higher education".

The TMC MP alleged that for the last 11 years, the Modi government has "bled people through taxes".

"If that wasn’t enough, Modi Govt has been heavily borrowing money from foreign institutions. Who will shoulder the burden of this huge foreign debt?" Gokhale said in his post.

He said people of India are paying for Modi's election promises.

"The sadder part? Once the election is over, Modi’s promises are forgotten," he said.

"India is borrowing billions of dollars just for funding Modi’s false election promises. And the people of India will be repaying this foreign debt for decades to come," he said.

According to the Reserve Bank of India figures, India’s external debt increased by 10 per cent to $736.3 billion at the end of March 2025 compared to $668.8 billion in the year-ago period.

As a percentage of the GDP, the external debt increased to 19.1 per cent at the end of the recently concluded financial year from 18.5 per cent a year ago. PTI AO RT RT