New Delhi: The defence budget has been raised by a marginal Rs 500 crore in the Union Budget 2024-25 announced by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman from the interim figures announced in February, taking the total allocation to the critical sector to Rs 6,21,940 crore.
Significantly, while the capital budget remained the same at Rs 1.72 lakh crore, defence minister Rajnath Singh said that Rs 1,05,518.43 crore had been earmarked for procurement from domestic firms.
“Earmarking of Rs 1,05,518.43 crore for domestic capital procurement will provide further impetus to Atmanirbharta,” Singh said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
Another significant part of the budget is the 30 percent increase in allocation to the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) under the capital head, suggesting that infrastructure activities along the border will continue to be a focus area for the Centre along with the aim of speeding up the induction of the latest machinery and technology.
However, as reported by ThePrint in February, when the interim budget was announced, the defence budget was hiked marginally by 4.72 percent compared to the budgetary estimates of last fiscal.
A comparison with the revised estimates shows a contraction of 0.38 percent.
In terms of pure numbers, the total defence budget for 2024-25 stands at Rs 6,21,940 crore, compared to Rs 5.93 lakh crore in the budgetary estimates for last fiscal. However, the revised estimates put the defence budget at Rs 6.23 lakh crore and hence the new numbers for this fiscal are a decrease.
When it comes to the capital budget, last year’s budgetary estimates stood at Rs 1.62 lakh crore but were revised to Rs 1.57 crore as the military was unable to spend the allocated amount.
The new budget earmarks Rs 1.72 lakh crore for capital expenditure, which will go towards the modernisation of the military through the procurement of new systems.
Budget figures show that both the Army and the Navy failed to spend the full amount allocated to them. However, the Indian Air Force was able to spend more than was allocated to it.
(Edited by Sanya Mathur)