Issue Brief on “Indian Defence Budget FY 2024-25 – Operational Preparedness and Defence Modernization:...

Due to election season in India, the Union Budget was announced twice this year. Initially, an interim budget was presented on February 1, 2024, before elections commenced in April 2024. The second time, Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget for Fiscal Year 2024-2025 on July 23, 2024. This budget was approved by the Indian Parliament on August 8, 2024.[1] The budget for the fiscal year 2024-25 allocated 12.9 per cent to the defence expenditure in India.[2] With a greater focus on operational preparedness and defence modernization, the budget allocated for defence for FY 2024-2025 has been raised to approximately $74.30 billion (INR 6.21 trillion) from $72.6 billion (INR 5.94 trillion[3]) in FY 2023-2024. This is a 4.55 per cent increase from last year; 94 per cent increase in last five years; and about 170 per cent increase in past ten years.[4]

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