Lok Sabha Question No. 1903 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-03-07
Subject: Defence Expenditure
Ministry: DEFENCE
Asked by: RAJENDRA AGRAWAL

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF DEFENCE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENCE

## LOK  SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1903

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 7 TH  MARCH, 2018

## DEFENCE  EXPENDITURE

1903.  SHRI RAJENDRA AGRAWAL:

Will the Minister of DEFENCE j{kk ea=h be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  defence  expenditure  as  a  percentage  of  GDP  has  been  consistently declining over the past few years;
- (b) if so, the details thereof  for the past three years and the reasons therefor; and
- (c) whether the Government proposes to increase the spending on defence to meet the latest  demands and if so, the details thereof?

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(a) to (c): There  has  been  a  consistent  increase  in  Defence  Expenditure every  year  over  previous  year,  as  is  brought  out  in  the  table  below, providing  the  details  for  the  last  three  years  as  well  as  the  current  year. Defence expenditure as a percentage of GDP is also given in the table:

(Rs. in crore)

| Year             | Defence Expenditure excluding Defence Pension   | Defence expenditure including Defence Pension   | GDP              |   Defence Expenditure excluding Defence Pension as %of GDP |   Defence expenditure including Defence pension as %of GDP. |
|------------------|-------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------|------------------|------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------|
| 2014-15          | 2,24,654                                        | 2,85,104                                        | 1,05,36,984      |                                                       2.1  |                                                        2.7  |
| 2015-16          | 2,33,682                                        | 2,93,920                                        | 1,13,81,002      |                                                       2.05 |                                                        2.58 |
| 2016-17 (Actual) | 2,66,795                                        | 3,54,621                                        | 1,21,89,854 (PE) |                                                       2.18 |                                                        2.9  |
| 2017-18# (RE)    | 2,79,004                                        | 3,74,004                                        | 1,67,84,679 (RE) |                                                       1.66 |                                                        2.2  |

:  2  :

This Ministry projects all the requirements posed by the Services to Ministry  of  Finance  for  favourable  consideration.    Ministry  of  Finance, being  the  Nodal  Ministry  for  allocating  funds  to  the  Ministries,  State Governments,  etc.  provides  budget  for  Ministry  of  Defence  taking  into account  resource  envelope  of  the  Government  of  India.    The  allocated funds  are  optimally  and  fully  utilized  towards  operational  requirements. However depending on the Budget allocation the schemes are reprioritized to  ensure  that  urgent  and  critical  capabilities  are  acquired  without  any compromise to operational preparedness of the Defence Services.

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