Defence budget will go up by 9.5% to Rs 6.81 trn in 2025-26: Secretary

Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh has said that the defence budget would go up by 9.5 per cent from the current Rs 6.21 trillion to Rs 6.81 trilion in 2025-26.

Rajesh Kumar Singh said, "The current year's defence budget was Rs 6.21 trillion, which will go up by 9.5 per cent to Rs 6.81 trilion in 2025-26. We should be spending 30 billion dollars per annum over the next decade as part of modernisation. Out of this capex budget, 75 per cent is earmarked for procurement from domestic sources and 25 per cent of this is earmarked for domestic private industry."

He further said that relaxation in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy and industrial licensing procedure are other elements that will propel the growth in the defence industry.

He further said that the total value of domestic production in India has reached Rs 1.27 trllion in 2023-24 and exports have increased to Rs 21,000 crores which is 30X jump in last 10 years.

"It's very obvious that the defence industry in India is at the cusp of a massive expansion. The current industrial ecosystem of India, which comprises 16 defence PSUs, 430 licensed companies and around 16,000 MSMEs, is the pillar of this expanding industrial base. Our focus has to be on reducing the entry barriers, as I had mentioned earlier, for new players and for new technologies so that our defence industrial ecosystem becomes adaptive, agile and capable of responding quickly to the changing nature of future warfare, as we have seen in recent geopolitical conflicts," he further said.

Earlier Rajesh Kumar Singh on Monday said India would be looking with an "open mind" to US President Donald Trump's offer to sell F-35 fighter jets to India.

Speaking to ANI, Singh clarified that the offer has not been formally made and that the US would be exploring a roadmap to make the F-35 available.

"It is not an offer yet. What he (Trump) said is that they will look at a roadmap to make that (F-35) available. We will look into the offer after it becomes a firm offer. In any case, our procurements are done through a process... Creating an option is important for us and we will look into it with an open mind," Singh said.

He further emphasised that India's procurement process will guide any future decisions, highlighting that the Defence Ministry has a procurement plan in place.

He mentioned that India has a large acquisition budget of Rs 1,80,000 crore for the next financial year and Rs 1,60,000 crore for the current year, which will be used for various procurements.

"The Defence Ministry has a procurement plan for the kinds of things you have mentioned (fighter planes, submarine and missiles). But obviously those will be announced only after the procurement process is complete... Yes, there are plans... Obviously, India has a very large acquisition budget of Rs 1,80,000 crore for the next financial year and about Rs 1,60,000 crore for this financial year and we will intend to utilise them through these procurements," the Defence Secretary said.

During Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the US, while addressing the joint press conference, US President Donald Trump had stated that the United States would be increasing the defence sales with India with billions of dollars. He added that his administration is paving the way to provide India with F-35 aircraft.