The army and navy are unhappy with the budget allocated for buying new weapons and systems and have flagged their concerns before the parliamentary standing committee on defence.
The two services have told the panel that their capital expenditure for 2017-18 is less than last year’s budget estimates and fell far short of their expectations and requirements.
HT has learnt that army and navy representatives attended a meeting of the parliamentary panel last week, where they presented figures to buttress their point, highlighting how the capital outlay was inadequate to power modernisation plans.
On February 1, India announced a defence budget of Rs 2.74 lakh crore, a marginal increase over last year’s budget of Rs 2.58 lakh crore. The spending includes a capital expenditure of Rs 86,488 crore for the military’s modernisation.
Sources said the army and navy officials categorically told the panel that the capital expenditure - less than last year’s - was barely enough to support some of the ongoing proposals to scale up the military’s capabilities.
At 1.62%, India’s defence spending is poor measured against the country’s gross domestic product. The budget for 2016-17, excluding pensions, accounted for 1.72% of the GDP, though experts argue it should be around 3% to counter China’s growing military might.