Defence Budget 2021: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has increased the defence budget to Rs 4.78 lakh crore for 2021-22. This includes the expenditure on pension. Last year, an allocation of Rs 4.71 lakh crore was made for the defence sector. If the pension expenditure is removed, a provision of Rs. 3.62 lakh crore budget has been made for the armed forces.
According to the budget speech presented in the Lok Sabha on behalf of the Finance Minister, a provision of Rs. 1.35 lakh crore has been made for the purchase of new weapons, aircraft, warships and other military equipment. In the last budget, it was Rs 1.13 lakh crore. Revenue expenditure in the budget 2021, in which a provision of Rs. 3.37 lakh crore has been made for the maintenance of salary and defence establishments. In some revenue expenditure, 1.15 lakh crore is to be spent on the pension.
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What was the defence budget in 2020?
In the financial year 2020-21, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman made a slight increase in the defence budget. It was increased to Rs 3.37 lakh crore. Whereas in 2019, this budget was Rs 3.18 lakh crore. According to the budget 2020 presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Rs 1.13 lakh crore was given for capital expenditure in the total defence allocation.
A provision was made in the budget to spend Rs 2.09 lakh crore towards revenue expenditure, which included expenditure on salaries and maintenance of defence establishments. The total allocation did not include Rs 1.33 lakh crore set aside for pension payments. Defence allocation remains 1.5 percent of GDP. It was the lowest since 1962.
