Since India took over the G20 presidency from Indonesia, it has hosted several meetings to discuss issues on sectors like health, tourism and finance. The official events were hosted in several cities around the country. As expected, the country has spent significant amount of money on the grand summit in Delhi and the various events related to the G20 presidency. According to several media houses, over ₹4,100 crore was spent on the makeover of the National Capital for the G20 Summit, a two-day event, which kicked off on September 9. The expenses are touted to be categorised broadly under around 12 categories.

The 2023-24 Budget announced this year in February had allocated ₹990 crore for the G20 presidency. Nirmala Sitharaman, the finance minister had said during the budget that the presidency gave India a unique opportunity to strengthen its role in the world economic order. However, the amount being reported currently is four times the amount originally designated in the budget.

For the same reason, Rajya Sabha member and All India Trinamool Congress national (AITC) spokesperson Saket Gokhale, citing media reports, claimed that the Government of India had spent 300 per cent in excess of the funds allocated for the event - ₹4,100 crore instead of the original ₹990 crore budget. The allegations of this hugely inflated budget were soon repeated by the Indian National Congress as well.

While the exact figures of the cost involved in G20 Summit are not made publicly available as of yet, the ₹4,100 crore price tag is certainly quite misleading and here’s how the numbers add up in reality.

Where did the figure of '₹4,100 crore' appear from?

Minister of State (MoS) for External Affairs and Culture of India Meenakshi Lekhi tweeted on September 4, a detailed breakdown of the expenses incurred during "City improvement in the area primarily used by G20 delegates". As per the minister, these expenses, which amounted to approximately ₹4,110 crore, were divided between the Delhi Police, MEA, PWD, Delhi civic bodies MCD and NDMC, DDA, and so on.

Money was allocated for everything ranging from security to street signage, maintenance of lights to G20 branding, and clearing encroachment from public areas to painting flyovers and bridges. The sum total of all the heads, according to the document she shared, was ₹4,110.75. The ₹4,100 crore figure that’s being quoted likely originated from the document shared by Lekhi.

According to a report, central agencies such as the ITPO, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and the Military Engineer Services, and those under the Central government – the Delhi Police, NDMC and the DDA – were responsible for 98 per cent of the expenses for the G20 meeting. “Since most of the asset creation and maintenance was done in areas under the NDMC and Lutyens’ Zone, Central government departments have undertaken most of the expenses; security arrangements have seen substantial expenditure given the guest list,” told an official.

The claim of '₹4,100 crore' is quite misleading, here's why?

Of the ₹4,110.75 crore mentioned in the document shared by Lekhi, the biggest expenditure of ₹3,600 crore is listed under the head for the India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO), which falls under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry amounted to almost 88 per cent of the total amount. This ₹3,600 crore is actually the cost of constructing the ITPO complex at Pragati Maidan, which was later officially renamed the 'Bharat Mandapam', the designated venue for the G20 Summit in India. The cost of constructing the Bharat Mandapam, which is a permanent infrastructure, is different and will not be included within the allocated G20 budget. The redevelopment and revamping of this ultramodern complex was conceived way back in 2017 at a budget of ₹2,254 crore.

Additionally, a budget of ₹800 crore was allocated for the decongestion of the roads and the construction of tunnels in and around Pragati Maidan, where the Bharat Mandapam is situated. This amount had already inflated to over ₹1,000 crore in 2019, as per the estimates shared by several news outlets.

If you add up these two numbers, the cost of development of the Bharat Mandapam and its surrounding areas already exceeds ₹3,200 crore. The Press Information Bureau (PIB) on July 26 had announced that the Bharat Mandapam complex was developed at the cost of ₹2,700 crore, which excludes the cost of roads and tunnels around it.

Can we club the construction cost of the Bharat Mandapam with other G20 expenses?

Experts stand unanimous on the fact that the cost of construction of any permanent infrastructure on government land, which will be utilised for many years to come, can’t be clubbed with the expenses of the hosting of a single event. “Expenditure undertaken by the ITPO is not solely for the Summit as it has to do with the creation of long-term assets such as the Bharat Mandapam,” said an official.

Gopal Kedia, a senior Chartered Accountant, said that such assets will potentially generate rental revenue in the future and also be used for various other events. Therefore, it cannot be marked as an event expense. He added that, “A more accurate method of calculating the total expenditure for hosting the Summit at this venue would involve adding up the rental cost of a private event at the premises. This will only be a few crores — a small fraction of the actual cost of the building.”

Ashwini Taneja, another Chartered Accountant, reverberated the same, adding that only the cost of consumables, such as decoration, advertisements, and preparing the building to host the event should be added to calculate the total cost incurred. He emphasised that adding the total cost of constructing such permanent assets which will be used for a longer time to this expense is a flawed accounting practice.

So, what is the actual amount spent on hosting the Summit?

At ₹340 crore, the Delhi Police spent the second highest, followed by NDMC at ₹60 crore. A whopping ₹22 crore was doled out to deck out the road between Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport to Pragati Maidan to give an “international look”.

Meanwhile, the Delhi government’s Public Works Department (PWD) has shelled out ₹45 crore for the G20. Delhi PWD minister Atishi said earlier that several road stretches have been redesigned as per “European standards”. The PWD has put up 1.65 lakh plants, 31 statues, 90 fountains and decorative lights under its jurisdiction to give a complete makeover to Delhi. The MCD, under the Delhi government, paid about ₹5 crore for the G20 and Delhi’s Forest Department ₹16 crore. While the Union Ministry of Road Surface Transport spent ₹26 crore, the Delhi Development Authority coughed up ₹18 crore for the summit.

As per a report published in July, the Central government incurred ₹50.6 crore in expenses on outdoor advertisements related to the G20 presidency from December 2022 to April 2023.

The Central government has yet not disclosed the actual figures of expenses related to organising the G20 Summit in India. Although, Amitabh Kant, the G20 Sherpa, has claimed that the figures are even lower than the previously approved budget. He has also stated that the government will soon release the actual expense figures too.

Expenses incurred by other host countries

Although, it is apparent that India spent multiple crore of rupees if not over ₹4000 crore to spruce up Delhi for the grand event, here is how much money other countries had spent to host the summit over the years :

1. Indonesia (2022) – ₹364 crore

The 2022 G20 Summit held in Bali was reportedly budgeted at around 674 billion Indonesian Rupiah, or more than 364 crore in INR.

2. Japan (2019) – ₹2,660 crore

Japan spent $320 million, or ₹2,660 crore, on the 2019 G20 Summit held in Osaka, according to official data records.

3. Argentina (2018) – ₹931 crore

According to sources, the 2018 G20 conference in Buenos Aires, Indonesia, costed $112 million (approx 931 crore in INR).

4. Germany (2017) – ₹642 crore

According to Germany’s official G20 website, the government spent €72.2 million (nearly ₹642 crore) to host the meeting in Hamburg.

5. China (2016) – ₹1.9 lakh crore

The 2016 G20 Summit was held in Hangzhou, China. According to a report, the host incurred a whopping cost of $24 billion, over 1.9 lakh crore in INR (approximately) which went on to become the most expensive G20 hosted till date.

6. Australia (2014) – ₹2,653 crore

The 2014 G20 summit was held in Brisbane, Australia which was the first G20 attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. According to a fact sheet published by the University of Toronto, the 2014 summit costed the Australian government AUD 400 million for hosting and AUD 100 million separately for security, making a total of AUD 500 million, or over ₹2,653 crore.

7. Russia (2013) – ₹170 crore

The 2013 G20 Saint Petersburg Summit hosted by Russia costed the Kremlin around RUB 2 billion, over ₹170 crore, according to a fact sheet published by the University of Toronto.

8. France (2011) – ₹712 crore

The fact sheet by the University of Toronto revealed that the 2011 G20 Summit held at Cannes ended up costing over EUR 80 million (around ₹712 crore) to the French government.

9. Canada (2010) – ₹4,351 crore

According to sources, Canada spent CAD 715 million, approximately 4,351 crore in INR, to host the 2010 G20 meeting in Toronto. Joe Biden’s convoy’s driver detained during the G20 summit