Union Budget 2023: Rs 5.94 lakh crore allocated to the defence sector

The defence budget was increased to Rs 5.94 lakh crore from last year's allocation of Rs 5.25 lakh crore in the Union Budget for 2023-24. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that a total of Rs 1.62 lakh crore has been set aside for capital expenditure that 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.

The budget documents show that an allocation of Rs 2,70,120 crore has been made for revenue expenditure. This includes expenses on payment of salaries and maintenance of establishments. The budgetary allocation of revenue expenditure in 2022-23 was Rs 2,39,000 crore.

Meanwhile, the capital outlay for the Ministry of Defence (Civil) has been pegged at Rs 8,774 crore. 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. According to the budget papers, the total size of the defence budget is Rs 5,93,537.64 crore.

She also announced tax relief measures for "Agniveers", those recruited to the armed forces under the ‘Agnipath’ scheme.

Sitharaman announced that the money "Agniveers" from the Agniveer Corpus Fund receive will be exempt from paying taxes. “Deduction in the computation of total income is proposed to be allowed to the Agniveer on the contribution made by him or the Central Government to his Seva Nidhi account," the FM said.

The scheme was unveiled last year and received resistance in the form of protests, which turned violent in some place. The Agnipath recruitment scheme aims to carry out recruitments to the armed forces on a short-term basis. The government wants to create a youthful profile of the armed forces through this scheme, and additionally, train them in new technologies and improve their health levels.

(With inputs from agencies)

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