New Delhi: The defence budget on Wednesday 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.
Rs 1.62 lakh crore has been set aside for capital expenditure. It 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.
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, according to the budget documents.
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 defence pensions.
The total revenue expenditure including the pension outlay has been estimated at Rs 4,22,162 crore.
The total size of the defence budget is Rs 5,93,537.64 crore, according to the budget papers.
This was a crucial Budget being the last full Budget of the Modi Government before the 2024 general elections. From major industries to MSMEs, salaried classes to farmers, and education to healthcare, everyone was eyeing some relief from this Budget.
To make people aware of the pro-people measured announced in the Budget, the BJP will start a 12-day nationwide campaign on Wednesday.
India’s budget will attempt to meet the hopes and aspirations of common citizens and be a ray of hope for the world even as the world is going through a global economic turmoil, Prime Minister Modi said.
Addressing the media ahead of the Budget Session of Parliament, Modi said recognised voices in the world of the economy were bringing positive messages from all sides.
On Tuesday, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tabled the Economic Survey (2022-23) in Parliament. The Economic Survey 2022-23 has forecast India’s GDP growth for the next fiscal 2023-24 in a broad range of 6-6.8 per cent. Its baseline forecast for real GDP growth is 6.5 per cent.
According to the Economic Survey 2022-23, the Indian economy is “staging a broad-based recovery across sectors”, positioning itself to “ascend to the pre-pandemic growth path in FY23.”