Received Rs 1.89 cr through e-auction of PM mementos in 2025, says Govt

The Union Government received Rs 1.89 crore through the 2025 edition of the e-auction of mementoes and gifts presented to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, according to data shared by Tourism Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.

He shared the data in his written response to a query in Lok Sabha on Monday.

He was asked for details of the amount which the Government received from the e-auctions and the dates on which they took place during the last five years.

The amount received by the Government through the e-auction of mementoes and gifts for the seventh edition (2025) stood at  Rs 1.89 crore, while the corresponding figure for the sixth edition was Rs 2.24 crore, according to the data.

In its sixth edition in 2024, over 600 mementoes and gifts were put on e-auction.

Shekhawat, on the eve of the start of the 2024 edition, had told mediapersons at the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) here that the collection mirrored India’s rich tapestry of culture, spirituality, history and politics.

The minister had then said that the sixth edition was part of a series of successful auctions of the prime minister’s mementos, first launched in January 2019.

These auctions had garnered more than Rs 50 crore in the first five editions, the culture ministry had then said.

In a query in the Lok Sabha, Shekhawat was also asked about the number of times such auctions were organised before 2014.

To which he replied, “Before 2019, no auction of mementoes and gifts was organised by the National Gallery of Modern Arts (NGMA).”

The dates on which e-auctions were organised during the last five years are as follows: In 2021, from September 17 to October 7; in 2022, from September 17 to October 12; in 2023, from September 17 to October 31; in 2024, from September 17 to October 31; and in 2025, from September 17 to October 31.