In a 1.4 percent marginal hike, the budget for defence increased to Rs 4.78 lakh crore for 2021-22 as compared to last year's allocation of Rs 4.71 lakh crore while it was discovered that the armed forces spent an additional amount of Rs 20,776 crore under the capital outlay to buy military equipment and hardware in the face of the eastern Ladakh border situation.
budget documents show that the revised capital revised capital expenditure of the defence services for 2020-21 was Rs 1,34,510 crore as compared to the budgetary allocation of Rs 1,13,734 crore, suggesting additional expenditures. The Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday allocates a total of Rs 1,35,060 crore for capital expenditure that includes purchasing new weapons, aircraft, warships and other military hardware and The capital outlay for 2021-22 sees an increase of 18.75 percent compared to last year.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh tweeted earlier, thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the FM for increasing the defence budget said that the nearly 19 percent hike in the capital expenditure is the "highest ever" increase in the last 15 years.
"I specially thank PM & FM for increasing the defence budget to 4.78 lakh cr for FY21-22 which includes capital expenditure worth Rs 1.35 lakh crore. It is nearly 19 percent increase in Defence capital expenditure. This is the highest ever increase in capital outlay for defence in 15 yrs," - Defence Minister
Significantly, the allocation for payment of pension has come down as it was Rs 1.33 lakh crore in the previous budget. Military experts said the drop in the allocation could be an indication of the government's plan to cut expenditure on payment of pension by increasing the retirement age of military officers. This was clarified later by officials that the allocation was more in 2020-21 as approximately Rs 18,000 crore was to be paid on account of pension arrears. "Also salary and pension are based on actuals," said an official.
Considering the severe impact suffered by the Indian economy due to the Coronavirus Pandemic, experts have expressed much satisfaction when it comes to the budget allocation.
"I am satisfied with the total allocation to the armed forces considering the state of the economy in view of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic," said Dr Laxman Behera, a noted defence expert.
As per the revised numbers, the Army has been granted a capital outlay of Rs 36,481 crore, a higher sum than Rs 33,213 crore, which was the outlay of 2020-21. The allocation of Rs 33,253 crore to the Navy has seen a somewhat significant decrease, compared to the Rs 37,542 crore allotted in the previous budget.
Similarly, the Indian Air Force has been allocated Rs 53,214 crore to buy new platforms and weapons, the numbers dropping by Rs 1,840 crore ,compared to the money it spent under capital expenditure in the current fiscal year. Apart from this, the allocations made to the DRDO(Defence Research and Development Organisation ) and the BRO(Border Roads Organisation) has seen an increase of 8% and 7.48% compared to last year, respectively.
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