New Delhi: There has been a sharp increase of 58% in the funding for the Agnipath scheme to cater to increased recruitment planned this financial year and the infrastructure costs related to it.
The total outlay for Agnipath under the defence sector has increased from Rs 11,039.51 crore in 2025 to Rs 17,396.18 crore in 2026, which amounts to an increase of Rs 6,350 crore.
Sources in the defence and security establishment said the increased allotment in the budget is for training and other infrastructure costs related to the scheme. They said salaries and other perks are part of the overall revenue budget.
The Army alone accounts for nearly 87 per cent of the total Agnipath outlay for 2026–27, accounting for Rs 15,173 crore in 2026, compared to Rs 9,414 crore the previous year. This is a 61.18 per cent increase over last year’s estimated budget for the Army’s Agnipath costs.
“The Army has the highest number of Agniveers and their recruitment is set to go up. Hence, naturally, a higher budget would be allocated to the Army to cater to infrastructure costs,” a source explained.
The Navy has seen the second-largest expansion in funding, with an increase of nearly 50 per cent as it goes up to Rs 1,150.50 crore from Rs 772.29 crore.
The Air Force recorded a moderate hike of 25 percent, going up to Rs 1,072 crore in 2026–27, from Rs 853 crore in the previous year’s Budget Estimate.
Agniveer scheme
Launched in 2022, Agnipath is a contractual military recruitment programme for youth, for a period of four years, after which a quarter of each cohort will be absorbed into regular service.
Under this scheme, Agniveers are paid a fixed monthly salary of Rs 30,000 for the first year, which will increase to Rs 40,000 by the fourth year. Nearly 30 per cent of the amount will be a mandatory contribution to the Agniveer Seva Nidhi Fund.
In addition to pay, Agniveers are also eligible for applicable military allowances such as risk and hardship allowances, depending on their deployment.
At the end of the fourth year, the government will contribute an equal amount of the accumulated corpus, which will be around Rs 11.7 lakh, to be transferred to the Agniveers. The amount will be exempted from income tax. However, those who are retained will transition to the regular pay and pension structure of the armed forces.
When the scheme was launched, approximately 46,000 Agniveers were recruited annually across the Army, Navy, and Air Force. However, by the end of 2025, the total number of recruits under the scheme had grown to 1.75 lakh.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
Also read: Not just BSF, MHA working on rules to reserve 50% of all CAPF constable posts for Agniveers