Defence Budget: Big-ticket military acquisitions face roadblocks

SOURCE: INDIA TODAY

Apaltry hike of 1.8 per cent over the revised estimates of the Ministry of Defence for the last fiscal could curb modernisation of the Army, Air Force and Navy. The total amount of Rs 3.37 lakh crore allocated this year does not include pensions and is 5.6 per cent more than last year’s initial of Rs 3.18 lakh crore.

However, this was revised as the ministry sought more funds from the government. As per the revised budget for 2019-2020, the total allocation to the ministry comes to Rs 3.31 lakh. When it comes to capital budget head meant for catering to demands of procurement of weapons and military systems, it remains under 3 per cent.

The capital outlay allocation for the three forces is Rs 1.13 lakh crore, while in the last budget the revised expenditure came to Rs 1.10 lakh crore.

The allocation under capital expenditure meant to procure big-ticket weapons, fighter jets, submarines, helicopters and other modern military systems is not enough to speed up critical purchases.

A chunk of the overall budget for the Ministry of Defence will meet demands of salaries and an additional 1.33 lakh crore is allocated separately for paying pensions.

India Today TV had reported earlier that the Ministry of Defence had proposed a rollon non-lapsable budget over a period of five years for big-ticket acquisitions.

The current budget allocation has little scope for a leap as far as modernisation of armed forces is concerned as capital expenditure meant for big-ticket procurement did not increase to match the requirements.

The total budget allocation for the Ministry of Defence is Rs 3,37 lakh crore, while the revenue head is Rs 2,18 lakh crore, of this the total capital outlay is Rs 1,18,555 crore.

At a time when the Indian Air Force is looking at making up for the depleting fleet, it has ended up getting less than the revised budget of last year.

This fiscal the Indian Air Force has been allocated Rs 73244.57 crore while last year the revised was Rs 74820.83 crore.

Indian Army has been allocated Rs 1,79,332.89 crore and in 2019-20 the force got Rs 1,70,962.35 and in the revised budget, it was allocated Rs 173627.43 crore.

Indian Navy gets Rs 49623.02 core and in 2019-2020 the force had got Rs 45368.14 crore. In the revised budget, the force allocation is Rs 48943.14 crore.

Indian Navy gets Rs 22934.75 crore under Revenue head in the budget. In 2019-2020, the navy had got Rs 22211.71 crore and in revised budget estimate it is Rs 22786.71 crore under revenue head.

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