Modi vs Manmohan: Who's the bigger globetrotter?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is executing his “fast-track diplomacy”—as his government calls it—with gusto: Including his current China visit, he will have been abroad for 53 of 365 days in 17 countries during his first year as Prime Minister.

That’s not very different from Manmohan Singh, who spent 47 of 365 days in 12 countries during the first year of the second term of the United Progressive Alliance, or UPA-II (and 30 days during UPA-I).

Modi promised a strong foreign policy to the people of India after he took oath on May 26, 2014. The swearing-in ceremony was attended by leaders from eight neighbouring nations.

Here’s the most striking difference between the two PMs: Modi has made more state visits—official visits to countries—compared to summit-oriented visits by Singh.

UPA 1	Dates	Days	UPA 2	Dates	Days	NDA	Dates	Days
Thialand (BIMSTEC Summit)	29 -31th July,2004	3	Russia (Shanghai Corp/BRIC Summit)	15-17th Jun 2009	3	Bhutan	15-16th Jun 2014	2
UK	19-20th Sep, 2004	2	Italy (G-8)	7-11,July 2009	5	Brazil (BRICS Summit)	13-18,July 2014	6
USA (UN Gen Assembly)	21-27,Sep 2004	7	France	13-14 July,2009	2	Nepal	3-4 August, 2014	2
Netherlands (India EU Summit)	7-10, November 2004	4	Egypt (non aligned movt.)	15-17,July, 2009	3	Japan	Aug 31 to 3 Sep 2014	4
LAOS (India-ASEAN Summit)	28-30, Nov 2004	3	USA (G-20)	23-27, September 2009	5	USA (UN Gen Assembly/Bilateral Visit)	25-30, September 2014	6
Mauritius	Mar 30 to Apr 2,2005	4	Thialand (ASEAN- India/East Asia Summit	23-25 Oct 2009	3	Myanmar (East Asia/ASEAN-India Summit)	11-13 November 2014	3
Indonesia (Afro-Asian Summit)	22-25 April 2005	4	USA	21-26 November 2009	6	Australia (G-20 Summit/Bilateral Visit)	14-18 November 2014	5
Russian Federation	8-10 May 2005	3	Trinidad & Tobago ( Commonwealth heads of Govt)	27-28, November 2009	2	Fiji	19-20, November 2014	2
			Denmark ( Climate Summit)	17-18, December 2009	2	Nepal (SAARC Summit)	25-27, November 2014	3
			Russia	6-8 December 2009	3	Seychelles	10-11 May 2015	2
			Saudi Arabia	Feb-27 to Mar 1 2010	3	Mauritius	11-12 March 2015	1
			USA (Nuclear Security Summit)	10-13 April 2010	4	Sri Lanka	13-14 March 2015	2
			Brazil (IBSA/BRIC Summit	14-16 April 2010	3	France	09-11 April 2015	3
			Bhutan (SAARC Summit)	28-30 April 2010	3	Germany	12-14 April 2015	3
						Canada	14-17 April 2015	3
						China	14-16 May 2015	3
						Mongolia	17 May 2015	1
						South Korea	18-19, May 2015	2
Total		30			47			53

Modi has been criticised for his foreign visits and days spent out of the country. But Singh was nearly as well travelled as Modi, in terms of days abroad.

Modi intends to use public diplomacy to project India’s soft power, as IndiaSpend reported earlier.

In terms of visits by heads of states to India, Modi’s first year saw 23 visits compared to 30 and 29 visits during Dr. Singh’s first year of his first and second terms respectively.

Parameters	UPA	UPA II	NDA
Bilateral ( Treaties/ Conventions/ Agreement Signed )	22	37	57
Multilateral ( Treaties/ Conventions/ Agreement Signed )	2	1	5
Instruments of Full powers issued	3	13	5
Instruments of ratification/ accession	14	5	10

A total of 57 bilateral treaties/conventions/agreements were signed during Modi’s first year (May 26, 2014 to December 31, 2014), compared to 37 and 22 bilateral treaties during Dr. Singh’s first year of UPA-II (May 22, 2009 to December 31, 2009) and UPA-I (May 22, 2004 to December 31, 2004), respectively.

Parameters	UPA I			UPA II			NDA
	2003-04	2004-05	% Growth	2008-09	2009-10	% Growth	2013-14	2014-15	% Growth
Foreign Aid	161	208	29.3%	414	370	-10.8%	848	982	15.8%
FDI	2188	3219	47.1%	31396	25834	-17.7%	24299	28813	18.6%
Foreign Exchange Reserve	107448	135570	26.2%	241700	254900	5.5%	304200	341600	12.3%
Exports	63843	83536	30.8%	185295	178751	-3.5%	314416	310534	-1.2%
Imports	78149	111517	42.7%	303696	288373	-5%	450214	447548	-0.6%

Note: Figures in US $ million, unless otherwise mentioned; Sources: In the following list, 1 stands for 2003-04, 2 for 2004-05, 3 for 2008-09, 4 for 2009-10, 5 for 2013-14 and 6 for 2014-15. Foreign Aid: 1,2,3,4,5,6; Foreign Direct Investment: 1 to 6, Figures for FDI 2014-15 are up to February 2015; Foreign Exchange Reserves: 1,2,3,4,5,6; Exports and Imports: 1 to 4, 5 & 6.

India’s foreign aid to other countries during Modi’s first year increased 15.84%. This was down by 10.81% during Singh’s first year of his second term, against an increase of 29.32% during the fist year of his first term.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) registered a growth of 18.58% in 2014-15 over 2013-14. During Singh’s first year of his first term, FDI saw an increase of 47.12% but declined 17.72% during his first year of second term.

Foreign exchange reserves in 2014-15 registered a growth of 12.29% over its previous year. The same saw an increase of 5.46% and 26.17%, respectively, during Singh’s first year of his two terms.

In terms of dollars, exports and imports declined -1.23% and 0.5%, respectively, in 2014-15 from 2013-14. In Singh’s first year of his second term, exports and imports declined far more sharply, 4% and 5%, respectively.

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, under Modi, has restored some purpose and direction to India’s foreign policy, missing during the UPA’s second term, according to Dr. Uttara Sahasrabuddhe, professor for International Politics, University of Mumbai.

The breakthrough in the Indo-US nuclear deal during Dr. Singh’s first term was the chief highlight of his foreign policy. During his second term, foreign policy lacked direction, Sahasrabuddhe said, as his leadership was not accepted within the party and was largely driven by the bureaucracy, unlike Modi, who exerts greater control over foreign policy.

(Souce: IndiaSpend is a data-driven, public-interest journalism non-profit)