India's defence budget witnessed a marginal increase of around 1.4% in the Union Budget 2021 tabled by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Parliament on Monday. However, there was a massive 18.75% increase in capital outlay for the defence that will boost the modernisation process of the military.
Last year the capital allocation for the defence was pegged at Rs 1.13 lakh crore which has been raised to Rs 1.35 lakh crore, an increase of around 19%. The hike in capital outlay came in for praise by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.
“This is the highest-ever increase in capital outlay for defence in 15 years,” Rajnath Singh tweeted.
India spent an unbudgeted Rs 20,776 crore on emergency arms procurement in the face of China’s intrusion along the northern border, especially in Ladakh.
The overall rise in defence expenditure amounts to Rs 4,78,196 crore from last year’s budgetary allocation of Rs 4,71,378 crore, which amounts to a mere 1.4% hike.
The revenue allocation for defence stands at Rs 2.12 lakh crore as against the revised budget of Rs 2.09 lakh crore for last year.
The allocation on pensions for defence personnel is Rs 1.15 lakh crore as against the revised allocation of Rs 1.25 lakh crore last year. It is less than even the revised budget allocation made last year.
Apart from that, the allocation for civil works under the Ministry of Defence is Rs 15,257 crore as against the revised allocation of Rs 15,914.06 crore in last year's Budget. The civil allocation includes an allocation for construction of roads, bridges, government-in-aid to state governments and housing in Northeast regions and border areas.
The defence ministry has carried out extensive construction work on the borders after China started the border dispute in April last year. The estimated budget for the civil works was Rs 14,500 crore and in revised estimates, it increased to Rs 15,914.06 crore. The government spent Rs 1,414.06 crore extra in building infrastructure across the border.
