A parliamentary panel has asked the defence ministry to ‘strongly press’ for additional funds from the finance ministry to enable the military to buy new equipment and also pay for weapons and systems it has already contracted to purchase, at a time when the armed forces have projected a combined requirement of almost Rs 1 lakh crore more under the capital head for 2019-20.
In a series of reports on demands for grants of the defence ministry for 2019-20, the Parliamentary standing committee on defence on Monday underlined the need to provide adequate budgetary support to the armed forces for powering different modernisation programmes and also pay for committed liabilities or procurements already made in the previous years.
India’s defence budget for 2019-20 stands at Rs 3.18 lakh crore. This includes a capital outlay of just Rs 1,03,394 crore that is not enough to upgrade capabilities and more money is required to avoid a funding crisis, said three senior military officers asking not to be named. The additional money sought by the army, navy and air force almost equals this year’s capital expenditure.
Measured against the country’s GDP, India’s defence spending currently stands at around 1.5% of the GDP, the lowest in decades. Several experts have argued that India should spend 3% of its GDP to build military capabilities to counter a combined threat from China and Pakistan. In written submissions to the parliamentary panel, the defence ministry said the requirements projected by the three services had been forwarded to the finance ministry for ‘favourable consideration’.
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