Defence Budget 2021-22 Gives 19% More Purchasing Power To The Armed Forces, Highest In 15 Years !!

The Union Budget made a 19 per cent higher allocation for the country’s armed forces to buy new weaponry compared to last year and the highest in the last 15 years. The Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today pegged the defence budget at ₹4.78 lakh crore, which includes a capital expenditure budget of ₹1.35 lakh crore to buy new military hardware. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Ms Sitharaman for increasing the defence budget.

“I specially thank PM& FM for increasing the defence budget to ₹4.78 lakh cr for FY21-22 which includes capital expenditure worth ₹1.35 lakh crore. It is nearly 19 per cent increase in Defence capital expenditure. This is highest ever increase in capital outlay for defence in 15yrs,” Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh tweeted. In last year’s budget, the defence forces were given ₹20,776 crore additional funds under the capital budget meant for unplanned expenses of the armed forces. It is believed that these funds were used by the three arms of the military to make emergency weapons and ammunition purchases to shore up defences along the Ladakh frontier, where India and China are in the midst of an unprecedented faceoff for nearly a year. Ms Sitharaman’s huge defence budget comes amid forecast that fiscal deficit for fiscal 2021 has been pegged at 9.5 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) and would fall to 6.8 per cent in fiscal 2022. The fiscal deficit will reach below 4.5 per cent by 2026, Ms Sitharaman said while presenting the Union Budget after a difficult year for the economy due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The government will approach the market for an additional ? 80,000 crore to fund the fiscal deficit in the current financial year, Ms Sitharaman said.