KATHMANDU, Feb. 2 -- India has increased its pledged annual grant to Nepal by a notable 29.41 percent for India's next fiscal year that will begin on April 1.

Announcing the Indian government's union budget for the fiscal year 2023/24 on Wednesday, Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the government has increased the grant amount to INR 5.50 billion (Rs 8.8 billion) to Nepal. Last year, India had initially pledged Rs 12 billion in grants for 2022-23, which however was revised down to Rs 6.8 billion. In 2021-22, India provided Rs 7.13 billion in grants to Nepal.

In 2021/22 too, the southern neighbor had allocated INR 9.92 billion (Rs 15.87 billion) under the heading. However, the actual amount that Nepal received over the peri...