NEW DELHI: An outlay of Rs 2.95 lakh crore was today set aside for the defense budget for the next fiscal which is an increase of 7.81 per cent over last year’s Rs 2.74 lakh crore.
Out of the total allocation, the capital outlay for the three defense services for purchase of new weapons, aircraft, warships and other military hardware has been pegged at Rs 99,947 crore.
The outlay for defense budget amounted to 12.10 per cent of the total budget of Rs 24,42,213 crore for 2018-19.
In his budget speech, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley appreciated the role played by the armed forces in meeting challenges on the country’s borders as well as in managing the internal security environment, both in Jammu and Kashmir and the Northeast.
He said the government will develop two defense industrial production corridors and bring out an industry- friendly military production policy to promote the domestic defense industry.
Compared to revised estimate of Rs 2.79 lakh crore for the defense budget in 2017-18, the increase in allocation has been 5.91 per cent but compared to the budget outlay of Rs 2.74 lakh crore, the hike is 7.81 per cent.
Out of Rs 2,95,511 crore allocated for the financial year 2018-19, Rs 99,947 crore has been pegged for capital outlay which includes expenditure on modernization of the three forces, according to the defense ministry.
The revenue expenditure, which covers payment of salary, maintenance of establishments and other related expenditure, has been pegged at Rs 1,95,947 crore.
A separate amount of Rs 1,08,853 crore has been set aside over the above the total allocation for the paying pension to defense personnel.
The amount for defense pension is an increase of 26.60 per cent over the allocation of Rs 85,740 crore last year.
In his address, Jaitley said a lot of emphasis had been laid on modernizing and enhancing the operational capability of the defense forces in the last three-and-half years.
“The government will take measures to develop two defense industrial production corridors in the country,” he said.
Jaitley said the government would also bring out an industry-friendly “defense production policy 2018” to promote domestic production by the public sector, private sector and MSMEs.
He said a number of initiatives had been taken to develop and nurture India’s intrinsic defense production capability to make the nation self-reliant on its defense needs.
The minister said private investment in defense production had been opened up, including liberalizing foreign direct investment.-PTI
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