India Boosts Defense Budget by 8%, Pushes Defense Production

Union Budget for the financial year 2018-19, presented by the Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley in the Parliament today, envisaged a total outlay of Rs. 24,42,213 crore. Out of this, Rs 2,95,511.41 crore has been earmarked for Defence. This accounts for 12.10 percent of the total Central Government expenditure for the year 2018-19.

The allocation of Rs. 2,95,511.41 crore represents a growth of 7.81 percent over Budget Estimates (Rs. 2,74,114.12 crore) and 5.91 percent over Revised Estimates (Rs. 2,79,003.85 crore), respectively for the financial year 2017-18.

Out of Rs. 2,95,511.41 crore allocated for the financial year 2018-19, Rs. 1,95,947.55 crore has been allocated for Revenue (Net) expenditure and Rs. 99,563.86 crore for Capital expenditure for the Defence Services and the Organizations/ Departments under Ministry of Defence. The amount of Rs. 99,563.86 crore, allocated for Capital expenditure, includes modernization related expenditure. The Capital allocation for Ministry of Defence under BE 2018-19 is 33.1 percent of the total Central Government Expenditure on Capital Account, which is Rs 3,00,441 crore.

For Defence Pension, which is over and above the outlay mentioned above, an amount of Rs. 1,08,853.30 crore has been provided in BE 2018-19. This is 26.60 percent above the BE 2017-18 of Rs. 85,740 crore and 14.26 percent over RE 2017-18 of Rs. 95,000 crore.

The approval for the construction of Sela pass has given further impetus to the Defence preparedness.

Def Min on budget

Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley in his Budget Speech 2018-19 has inter alia announced various steps for promotion of Defence Production. These steps include (a) measures to develop two Defence Industrial Corridors in the country; (b) bringing out an industry friendly Defence Production Policy 2018 to promote domestic production by public sector, private sector and MSMEs.

Thanking the Finance Minister on these path-breaking announcements, Raksha Mantri Smt Nirmala Sitharaman, said, "These are the first ever Defence Production Corridors being formed in the country. These Defence Industry Corridors will give a big boost to defence production in the country."

The Department of Defence Production had recently conducted a major Defence Industries Development Meet in Chennai in January 2018 with huge participation from defence industries, including MSME from Chennai, Mysore, Coimbatore, Salem, Tiruchirappalli and from other states as well. The meet highlighted the prevailing ecosystem, albeit scattered, conducive for Defence Production in Tamil Nadu.

The announcement by Shri Jaitley has paved the way for setting up the first Defence Production Corridor in Tamil Nadu. This shall provide impetus to the defence production industry in the country and in the region, in particular, Smt Sitharaman said.

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India Boosts Defense Budget by 8%, Pushes Defense Production India Boosts Defense Budget by 8%, Pushes Defense Production Reviewed by Unknown on 05:28:00 Rating: 5

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