During the tenure of former US President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Trump's businesses reportedly received payments amounting to at least $7.8 million, according to a recent report issued by Democratic members of the US House Oversight Committee on January 4. India was the fifth among 20 other countries that made these payments.

The report titled, 'White House for Sale: How Princes, Prime Ministers, and Premiers Paid Off President Trump’ suggests that from 2017 to 2020, India spent a total of $282,764 at Trump World Tower in New York and Trump International Hotel in Washington DC. The report additionally implies that the payments made to Trump's businesses from India, totaling at least $7.8 million, represent only a fraction of the overall foreign payments received by Trump and his family during his tenure from 2017 to 2021.

During the period from 2017 to 2020, the Permanent Mission of India to the UN allocated $264,184 for payments related to the Trump World Tower, situated opposite the UN headquarters. India acquired a unit in the Trump Tower in 2004, subsequently serving as the official residence of India’s Permanent Ambassador.

Trump’s accounting firm, Mazars mentioned that in 2018, India had spent $66,046 on combined common charges for two units at Trump World Tower on Turtle Bay. The report further provides a projection of this figure over the four years of Trump’s administration giving a total of $264,184. The report further stated that this figure did not include additional charges like electricity and special assessments that were paid in 2018.

Moreover, it was found that in the South Asian region, India was home to the largest number of Trump-owned business projects outside the United States. The report by the Democrats on the Oversight Committee stated, “Former President Trump’s numerous foreign business entanglements in India and his direction of US foreign policy during his presidency repeatedly intersected, creating conspicuous conflicts of interest." 

The report mentions that Trump laid the foundation for his “uniquely warm relationship with the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi through his business ventures." According to the report, PM Modi said that Donald Trump had been “full of very warm remarks and observations for me" when PM Modi visited the White House during Trump’s presidency.

In August 2014, Donald Trump visited India to endorse a project shortly after Prime Minister Narendra Modi assumed office. Mangal PrabhatLodha, a leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and currently a Maharashtra cabinet minister, was a partner in Trump's project at that time.

The report pointed out that in 2013, “several of Mr. Lodha’s companies had reportedly been under investigation by Indian officials for corrupt practices and tax evasion, and the Mumbai development was not a sure thing," when Trump’s Mumbai Tower deal was announced.

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