Defence Budget hiked by 7.81 %

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented the Union Budget for the financial year 2018-19 in the Parliament today. Out of the total Rs 24,42,213 crore outlay, Rs 2,95,511.41 crore has been embarked for the Defence sector.

This accounts for 12.10 percent of the total Central government expenditure for the financial year 2018-19.

The allocation of amount sees a growth of 7.81 percent over budget estimates (Rs 2,74,114.12 crore) and 5.91 percent over revised estimates (Rs 2,79,003.85 crore), respectively for the financial year 2017-18.

Out of the allocated budget, Rs 1,95,947.55 crore has been given for the for Revenue (Nett) expenditure and Rs 99,563.86 crore for the capital expenditure.

Jaitley said a lot of emphases had been laid on modernising and enhancing the operational capability of the defence forces in the last three-and-half years.

An amount of Rs 1,08,853.30 crore has been allocated for Defence Pension, which is 26.60 percent higher than the Budget Expenditure last year and 14.26 percent higher than Revenue Expenditure of Rs 95,000 crore.

He also said a number of initiatives had been taken to develop and nurture India's intrinsic defence production capability to make the nation self-reliant on its defence needs.

The minister said private investment in defence production had been opened up, including liberalising foreign direct investment.