The defence expenditure with regard to spending of the central government saw a marginal percentage decline in 2017-18 in comparison to 2016-17, Minister of State for Defence Subhash Bhamre said Monday.
He, however, noted that in absolute terms there has been a steady increase in defence expenditure.
In 2014-15, defence expenditure was Rs 2,85,103.95 crore, which was 17.13 per cent of the Central Government Expenditure (CGE). In 2015-16, defence expenditure increased to Rs 2,94,054.93 crore, which was 16.42 per cent of the CGE.
In 2016-17, defence expenditure was Rs 3,77,542.01 crore, 19.11 per cent of the CGE.
In 2017-18, it was Rs 3,80,690.97 crore of the CGE, which was 17.16 per cent of the CGE.
"It is true that defence expenditure as per the percentage of CGE has fallen. However, the defence expenditure in absolute terms has been showing a steady rise," Bhamre said, in a written response to a question.
Responding to another question, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in 2018-19 Rs 93,982.13 was allocated for capital expenditure, which was 33.65 per cent of the total allocation. This was marginally less than the amount in 2017-18, which was 34.88 per cent.
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