Defence Budget: Military gets 28% less budget than it projected

Money requested for equipment modernisation slashed by 38 per cent

Given the ongoing 10 month-long confrontation with intruders from China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in Ladakh, the military was hopeful in the run-up to the Budget that the government would meet its budgetary projections for the coming financial year (2021-22).

It came as a jolt on Budget day, therefore, when the three services were allocated only Rs 3.24 trillion – 28 per cent less than their budgetary projections of Rs 4.49 trillion.

Making the blow even harsher, the services’ capital budget, which caters for the purchase of new equipment, was slashed by Rs 76,553 crore, a 38 per cent downsizing from the