Budget 2025-26: Defense budget of Rs 6.81 lakh crore announced, slight increase over last year

New Delhi| Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has presented the second budget of the third term of the Modi government.. In Budget 2025, Rs 6.81 lakh crore has been allocated under defence. There has been a slight increase in this compared to the previous budget. In the budget announced on Saturday, the Finance Minister has allocated Rs 6,81,210 crore. Last year the figure was Rs 6,21,940 crore. The total defense capital expenditure has been set at Rs 1,92,387 crore in the budget. It puts revenue expenditure at Rs 4,88,822 crore, including Rs 1,60,795 crore for pensions. Under capital expenditure, Rs 48,614 crore has been earmarked for aircraft and aero engines, while Rs 24,390 crore has been allocated for the naval fleet. An amount of Rs 63,099 crore has been earmarked for the purchase of other equipment.

What did the defense sector get in the last budget?

The government had reduced the share of defence budget for 2024-25 from Rs 4,55,897 crore in 2023-24 (revised) to Rs 4,54,773 crore. While the budget estimate in 2023-24 was Rs 4,32,720 crore. The defence budget was set at Rs 6,21,940 crore for 2024. In which fixed revenue expenditure (revenue) stood at Rs 4,39,700 crore, capital expenditure (capital expenditure) at Rs 1,82,240 crore. There has been no change in the total allocation of the interim budget released in February. The interim budget has increased the capital outlay by only 10,000 crore. If seen, only the capital budget in the defense sector has increased.

How much did expenditure on defense sector increase after independence?
The country’s first budget after independence was presented by R. K. Shanmugham Chetty on 26 November 1947. The total size of this budget that is the total expenditure was estimated at ₹197.39 crore. The maximum allocation in this budget was made for the defense sector only. In the first budget of independent India, it was said that Rs 92.74 crore, or 46%, would be spent only on defense services. After this, before the Modi government came to power i.e. in the budget of 2013-14, it was estimated to spend Rs 2,03,672 crore on defense sector. By the previous budget of Modi government i.e. 2024-25, the size of defense budget has more than doubled compared to 2013-14.

China’s budget is more than ours
According to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s (SIPRI) report on defense spending that came out on April 2024, India is number four among the top 10 countries with the highest military spending in 2023, with $83.6 billion in spending. In comparison, if we talk about China’s defense expenditure, China is in second place with 296 billion dollars. India’s defense budget is one-third less than China’s defense budget.