New Delhi: The defense budget was increased to Rs 5.94 lakh crore for 2023-24 from last year's allocation of Rs 5.25 lakh crore. In the Union Budget presented in Parliament by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday, a total of Rs 1.62 lakh crore has been set aside for capital expenditure that includes purchasing new weapons, aircraft, warships, and other military hardware.
For 2022-23, the budgetary allocation for capital outlay was Rs 1.52 lakh crore but the revised estimate showed the expenditure at Rs 1.50 lakh crore. According to 2023-24 budget documents, an allocation of Rs 2,70,120 crore has been made for revenue expenditure that includes expenses on payment of salaries and maintenance of establishments.
The budgetary allocation of revenue expenditure in 2022-23 was Rs 2,39,000 crore. In the budget for 2023-24, the capital outlay for the Ministry of Defence (Civil) has been pegged at Rs 8,774 crore while an amount of Rs 13,837 crore has been set aside under capital outlay. A separate amount of Rs 1,38,205 crore has been allocated for defense pensions. The total revenue expenditure including the pension outlay has been estimated at Rs 4,22,162 crore. According to the budget papers, the total size of the defense budget is Rs 5,93,537.64 crore.
Reacting to the defense budget, former Army Chief General Ved Prakash Malik, who served as the Chief of Army Staff during the Kargil War, expressed concerns about the minimum increment. He said that it was strange that despite the deteriorating security situation on the borders, particularly the Northern border, the Union Finance Minister while presenting the Budget 2023 did not even refer to Defence allocation which is a large part of our total budget.
General Malik served as the 19th Chief of Army Staff of the Indian Army from 1997 to 2000 and was the Army Chief during the Kargil War. He was speaking to ETV Bharat on Wednesday after the budget announcement. As per Budget 2023, India's defence budget this time is Rs 5.94 lakh crore, whereas, last time it was around Rs 5.25 lakh crore. That is an increase of Rs 69,000 crore and is a small hike over last year's budget.
To this General VP Malik said "While the small increase is welcome but I think the increment is too minimal and not adequate keeping in view the current status of our requirements of army, navy and air force. Also, one does not know what the shortfall from projected demand is. Last year the shortfall was about 25 per cent.” “There is no mention of ‘Non-Lapsable Fund’ which has been recommended over and over again, including by a Finance Commission,” he said.
It is pertinent to note here that out of the total budget of Rs 5.96 lakh crore, Rs 1.62 lakh crore will be allocated for purchasing new military equipment such as fighter jets, submarines, warships, missiles, and others. It is a 6.7 per cent increase from last year's allocation of Rs 1.52 lakh crore. A better part of it will be utilised for committed liabilities.
General VP Malik also said that "Although we could see that there is some increment in the allocation domain but looking at the present security situation, I feel this increment is very small and unlikely to give any boost to our security establishment."
