Defense allocation gets a big boost at Rs3,19,000 core for FY20
05 Jul 2019
The annual budget for the financial year 2019-20 envisages a total outlay of Rs27,86,349 crore. Out of this Rs3,18,931.22 crore has been earmarked for defence (excluding defence pension). For defence pension, an amount of Rs1,12,079.57 crore has been provided in the Budget Estimate 2019-20.
Total budget allocation for defence, including defence pension, thus adds up to Rs4,31,010.79 crore, accounting for 15.47 per cent of the total central government expenditure for the financial year 2019-20.
The allocation of Rs3,18,931.22 crore represents a growth of 7.93 per cent over Budget Estimates (2,95,511.41crore) and 6.87 per cent over Revised Estimates (Rs2,98,418.72 crore), respectively for the financial year 2018-19.
Out of Rs3,18,931.22 crore allocated for the financial year 2019-20, Rs2,10,682.42 crore is for revenue (net) expenditure and Rs1,08,248.80 crore for capital expenditure for defence services and the organisations/departments under the ministry of defence.
The Rs1,08,248.80 crore allocated for capital expenditure, includes modernisation related expenditure. Capital allocation of ministry of defence under BE 2019-20 is 31.97 per cent of the total central government capital expenditure, which is Rs3,38,569 crore.
In a significant development, import of defence equipment not manufactured in India has been exempted from basic customs duty. This will have an impact of augmenting the defence budget by approximately Rs25,000 crore on account of savings in expenditure on customs duty over the next five years.