The government on Saturday allocated an all-time high of ₹7.85 lakh crore to the defence ministry in the Union Budget for 2026-27, a jump of around 15 per cent over the previous year’s budget estimate of ₹6.82 lakh crore. The significant hike in the defence outlay comes amid India’s focus on modernising its armed forces and boosting domestic manufacturing of military platforms and hardware.
Of the total allocation, a large chunk is expected to be set aside for capital expenditure aimed at purchasing new weapons, aircraft, warships and other military hardware. The allocation is in line with the government’s policy of increasing the defence budget steadily to ensure armed forces are equipped with state-of-the-art weaponry to deal with any security challenges.
In the last few years, the government has been focusing on procurement of military platforms from domestic defence manufacturers. The defence ministry has been prioritising procurement of key platforms like fighter jets, tanks, submarines and missiles under the ‘Make in India’ initiative.
The armed forces have been working on a series of procurement plans in the last few years to replace their ageing military equipment. Experts said the increase in the defence budget will help the armed forces to implement their modernisation plans more effectively.
The budget also factored in the implementation of the long-pending Agnipath military recruitment scheme. The revenue expenditure of the armed forces including expenses on payment of salaries and maintenance of establishments is also set to see an increase.
The defence pension budget is also learnt to have been increased. Official sources said the enhanced allocation will help in speedy implementation of several big-ticket procurement projects. The defence ministry is also expected to utilize a significant part of the budget to boost border infrastructure.