The defence budget for the next fiscal was increased by nearly 13 per cent to Rs 5.94 lakh crores from the last year’s allocation of Rs 5.25 lakh crores. In an effort to sustain the pace of modernization, the capital outlay saw a jump for 2023-24 to Rs 1,62, 600 crores from Rs 1,50,000 crores last year.
Given the tense situation at the borders facing China, the Government has assured that more funds will be made available as and when required to keep up the operational readiness of the armed forces. The capital budget caters for procurement of weapon and allied systems.
The revenue budget for 2023-24 was hiked from Rs 2,59,500.48 crores last year to Rs 2,70,120.14 crores for the next financial year. This budget head takes care of salaries of armed forces personnel, maintenance of equipment and weapons, fuel costs and day to day functioning of the three Services.
If capital and revenue budgets for the coming fiscal are clubbed together, the hike totals nearly 5. 7 per cent compared to revised estimate for 2022-23.
The overall defence budget as mentioned above combine ministry of defence(Civil), revenue, capital and defence pensions. Pensions form a substantial part of the defence budget. Rs 1,38,205 crores were allocated for the next fiscal as compared to Rs 1,53, 414 crores for the last year.
As regards Service allocation for capital budget, the IAF got the highest share of allocation amounting to Rs Rs 57,137 crores. It will enable the IAF to procure more than 100 fighter jets to address the issue of depleting squadron strength besides acquiring other state of art equipment.
The Navy got the second highest capital outlay totaling Rs 52,804 crores for the next fiscal year.
The Navy is all set to buy fighter jets for its two aircraft carriers the coming months and initiate process for the production of next set of six conventional submarines. They will be manufactured within the country.
The Army was allotted Rs 37,241 crores to maintain its tempo of modernization in the backdrop of tension along the Line of Actual Control(LAC)facing China. The capital allocation will help the Army to procure light tanks, artillery guns and assault rifles.
The defence ministry said the Capital Investment Outlay has been increased steeply for the third year in a row by 33 per cent to Rs 10 lakh crore, which would be 3.3 per cent of GDP. This will be almost three times the outlay in 2019-20.
This increase is a reflection of the Government’s commitment towards sustainable augmentation in the area of modernisation and infrastructure development of the Defence Services, it said.
Moreover, the capital budget for improving infrastructure in border areas particulary the Northern borders facing China has seen a jump of 43 percent for the Border Roads Organisation(BRO).
For the next fiscal, the BRO got Rs 5,000 crore for the next fiscal as compared to Rs 3,500 crore in the last fiscal.
This will boost the border infrastructure thereby creating strategically important assets like Sela Tunnel, Nechipu Tunnel and Sela-Chhabrela Tunnel and will also enhance border connectivity.
Defence Minister Defence Minister Rajnath Singh congratulated Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for presenting a growth-oriented budget stating that priority has been given to provide support to farmers, women, marginalised sections.
Rajnath exuded confidence that the Union Budget 2023-24 will help in achieving the Government’s goal of making India a $5 trillion economy and among the world’s ‘Top Three’ economies within a few years.