With the objective of sustaining the ongoing modernisation and ensure operational readiness, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has allocated Rs 6, 21, 940 crore to the defence sector for 2024-25. The grant for 2023-24 was Rs 5.94 lakh crore and the hike is 4.79 per cent.
In an effort to keep up the momentum of acquisition of modern weapon systems for the armed forces, the capital outlay is pegged at Rs 1,72,000 crore.
The total allocation to the defence sector is 12.9 per cent of the total budget of the government of India for the financial year 2024-25.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said the allocation of Rs 1,05,518 crore for domestic capital procurement will provide further impetus to atmanirbharta (self-reliance) in the defence sector.
“As far as the allocation to the Ministry of Defence is concerned, I thank Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for giving the highest allocation to the tune of Rs 6,21,940.85 crore, which is 12.9 per cent of the total budget of the government for 2024-25,”he said in a social media post.
“The capital outlay of Rs 1,72,000 crore will further strengthen the capabilities of Armed Forces.
Earmarking of Rs 1,05,518.43 crore for domestic capital procurement will provide further impetus to Atmanibharta,” he said.
“I am pleased that Border Roads have been given 30 per cent increase in allocation over the last budget under the capital head. This allocation of Rs 6,500 crore to BRO will further accelerate our border infrastructure,” he said.
To boost the startup ecosystem in defence industries, Rs 518 crore has been allocated to the iDEX scheme to fund technological solutions given by startups, MSMEs and innovators, Rajnath said.
In the interim budget presented on February 1, the defence allocation was Rs 6.21 lakh crore.
While maintaining the allocation made to defence ministry during interim budget, the government has made an additional allocation to the tune of Rs 400 crore on innovation in defence through the Acing Development of Innovative Technologies with iDEX (ADITI) scheme.
Through this scheme, MoD is engaging with start-ups/MSMEs and innovators to develop Def-Tech solutions and supply the Indian military with innovative and indigenous technological solutions.
A grant of upto 50% of Product Development Budget with enhanced limit (Max) of Rs 25 crore per applicant will be awarded as per extant iDEX guidelines.
The allocation for 2024-25 is higher by approximately Rs one lakh crore (18.43%) over the allocation for FY 2022-23 and 4.79% more than allocation of FY 2023-24.