Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday made the highest allocation to the Ministry of Defence in Union Budget 2024. The MoD has been allocated Rs 6.22 lakh crore which is 4.79 per cent higher than the allocation in 2023-24.
For Defence Ministry, a capital outlay of Rs 1.72 lakh crore has been announced which is 20.33 per cent higher than the actual expenditure of FY 2022-23 and 9.40 per cent more than the Revised Allocation of FY 2023-24. The allocation will be used for capacity building through big-ticket acquisitions in the current and subsequent financial years.
Moreover, Rs 92,088 crore has been provisioned for sustenance & operational readiness while the pension budget has been increased to Rs 1.41 lakh crore. Among other allocations under the Ministry of Defence, Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme(ECHS) has been allocated Rs 6,968 crore.
Rs 6,500 crore for border road development
For Border Road Development, the Union Budget provisioned Rs 6,500 crore, besides Rs 7,651 crore for coastal security. Innovations For Defence Excellence (iDEX) has been given a huge spike in allocation from Rs 115 in 2023-24 to Rs 518 crore this year. The enhanced allocation is granted to promote innovation.
Meanwhile, the budgetary allocation to the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has also been increased to Rs 23,855 crore in 2024-25 from Rs 23,263.89 crore in 2023-24. Out of this, a major share of Rs 13,208 crore has been allocated for capital expenditure.
Rajnath Singh hails budget
Speaking about the allocation in the budget, Union Minister of Defence Rajnath Singh thanked Finance Minister. In a post on X, Singh said, "As far as the allocation to the Ministry of Defence is concerned, I thank the Finance Minister for giving the highest allocation to the tune of Rs 6,21,940.85 crore, which is 12.9% of the total Budget of GoI for FY 2024-25."
He also said that the capital outlay of Rs 1.72 lakh crore will strengthen the capabilities of the Armed Forces while earmarking of Rs, 1,05,518.43 crore for domestic capital procurement will provide further impetus to Atmanibharta.
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