MEA Says US Embassy Denies Trump’s Claim of $21m USAID Funds to Modi, All USAID Pacts with India Ended August 15
New Delhi: Six months after US President Donald Trump claimed that $21 million was paid by USAID to his "friend" Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for voter turnout, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) told the parliament that the US Embassy has said that no such funds were received or given by India or USAID between 2014 and 2024. It also said that all seven "Partnership Agreements" USAID had signed with the Indian government would stand closed with effect from August 15.
The Trump administration has systematically all but dismantled USAID or the United States Agency for International Development, a taxpayer-funded aid organisation, citing the necessity to streamline US spending.
In late February this year, Trump had said amidst sweeping USAID cuts that the aid organisation's $21 million grant to India was meant to “get somebody else elected". Initial reactions by government supporters had focused on the Congress – which led the preceding UPA government – as the likely recipient of this “$21 million”. Amidst the BJP calling this amount proof of Congress having allowed “external interference,” the MEA had called this “deeply troubling”.
Then, days later, Trump said the money was “going to my friend, Prime Minister [Narendra] Modi in India, for voter turnout,” reversing the tables, and leading opposition parties to ask for an investigation.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) MP John Brittas in this ongoing parliament session had asked the MEA to note:
(a) the status of the actions taken by Government on the reports suggesting the utilization of United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funds to increase voter turnout in Indian elections and details thereof;
(b) whether Government has received from the US the details of expenditures on all USAID projects in India over last three years, sought through US Embassy;
(c) if so, the details thereof;
(d) if not, actions taken thereon; and
(e) the quantum of USAID funding to India in the last three years, year-wise, state-wise, and beneficiary wise including NGOs and individuals?
In a long reply, the MEA noted that a week after Trump's "friend" remark, on February 28, the government requested the US Embassy in New Delhi to "urgently furnish details of expenditure incurred on all USAID-assisted/funded projects in India over the last ten years (other than those being implemented under the seven Partnership Agreements with the Government of India)."
The MEA said also sought a list of NGOs or implementing partners through which such initiatives were executed.
On July 2, the US Embassy shared data that it said covered USAID funding in India from 2014 to 2024, including details of implementing partners, objectives, and key accomplishments of each activity undertaken.
It also highlighted what the embassy said on the '$21 million' payment. “USAID/India did not receive or provide funding of $21 million for voter turnout in India from fiscal years 2014 to 2024, nor has it implemented any voter turnout-related activities in India," the ministry's parliament response quoted the US embassy as having said on July 2, 2025.
The MEA said that on July 29, the US Embassy conveyed to MEA that it plans to bring all USAID operations to a close by August 15, 2025.
On August 11, 2025, said the MEA, the US Embassy in New Delhi, in a letter to the Department of Economic Affairs, conveyed that all seven Partnership Agreements signed with the Government of India would stand closed with effect from August 15.
The now-closed allocations spanned activities to treat HIV/AIDS, the spheres of environment and energy, assistance for Tibetan communities in India and Nepal, basic education and so on.
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