New Delhi: The government is set to shell out a whopping Rs 50,000 crore boost on defence, which is to be made available through a supplementary budget, NDTV reported.
The decision follows India’s blitzkrieg military action ‘Operation Sindoor’ on terror camps in Pakistan, almost a fortnight after the Pahalgam massacre.
The new allocation will take the defense spending past Rs 7 lakh crore from Rs 6.81 lakh crore set aside in the 2025/26 budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1.
This year's allocation marked a significant rise of 9.2 percent from Rs 6.22 lakh crore in 2024/25.
The boost on defence budget would focus on research and development, and the purchase of weapons, ammunition, and other equipment.
Since taking over power in 2014, Modi administration has been giving special focus on defence allocating in the first year of rule Rs 2.29 lakh crore.
The current allocation entails 13 per cent of the total budget, the highest spending among all ministries.
The tension with Pakistan continues, nevertheless India’s precision attacks dismantled several terror camps in the neighbouring country.
Operation Sindoor has brought to focus efficiency and tactical astuteness of Indian forces, alongside its advanced air defence systems comparable only to Israel's famed 'Iron Dome.
The use of homegrown systems in the conflict gained wide attention especially for the Akash missile defence system.
Meanwhile, the armed forces have also tested the new low-cost counter-drone system called, Bhargavastra.
The rigorous testing of the system’s micro-rockets at the Seaward Firing Range in Gopalpur in Odisha this week met all test objectives.
The Akash system can intercept even highly manoeuvrable aircraft like the United States-made supersonic F-16 fighter jets used by Pakistan.
Dr Prahlada Ramarao, a former Defence Research and Development Organisation scientist who developed the Akash system told NDTV that tagline for Akash is 'sara akash hamara' meaning 'the whole sky is ours'.
Following Operation Sindoor, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh called for increased domestic production of defence equipment saying ‘outsourcing’ defence equipment from other countries ‘cannot be a long-term solution’.