More firepower for defence spending

India on Thursday set aside ₹6.2 trillion for defence spending in the interim budget for FY25, an allocation that was 4.72% higher than in last year's budget estimates and marginally lower (0.37%) compared to the revised estimates for FY24.

- Rahul Singh

In her budget speech, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman also announced a new scheme to strengthen deep tech in the defence sector.

This year's defence budget accounts for 1.89% of the projected gross domestic product (GDP) for FY25.

The budget includes a revenue expenditure of ₹2.8 trillion, capital outlay of ₹1.7 trillion and a pension outlay of ₹1.4 trillion.

The capital outlay for the modernization of the armed forces is 5.78% higher than last year.