Budget 2018: India largest arms importer, yet defence of realm falters
Budget 2018 India is the fifth largest military spender (2016) in the world and the largest importer of arms, accounting for 13% of the world’s total imports between 2012 and 2016, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, a think tank. However, over three years to 2017-18, there was a 9% decline in budget allocation for capital investments against requirements, or “projections” in officialese, a factor that could delay procurement and modernisation of the armed forces,
according to a report by the Parliamentary Standing Committee On Defence 201718, an advisory body to the defence ministry, presented to the Lok Sabha (lower house of Parliament) on December 19, 2017.The air force capital budget was 46% lower than its requirements, the Army's was 41% and the Navy's 32%, the report said.The budget for defence expenditure–including revenue (salaries, transportation costs, stores), capital investments (equipment, ammunition), pensions and miscellaneous–in 2017-18 was Rs 359,854 crore, up 56% from Rs 230,642 crore in 2012-13.Defence allocation accounted for 17% of the central government budget (Rs 21.46 trillion) in 2017-18.Revenue expenditure accounted for 48% of defence budgetary allocation in 2017-18, up from 44% in 201516.Pensions and capital outlay accounted for 24% each of allocations, as against 20% and 24% in 2015-16, respectively. More than 75% of budget allocation (Rs 356,854 crore) and 80% allocation under the capital head (Rs 86,488 crore) in 2017-18 has been spent till December 2017, defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman told the Rajya Sabha (upper house of parliament) in her reply on January 1, 2018.Lower allocation for capital expenditure can delay procurement and projects, In 2017-18, the government, in its budget estimates, allocated Rs 86,529 crore for capital expenditure against the defence ministry projection of Rs 146,156 crore, according to the Parliamentary Standing Committee On Defence 2017-18 report submitted in December 2017.The budget allocation for capital acquisition has declined for all three services–army, navy and air force–since 2015-16, the committee observed in its report.The budgetary cut against the projection will hamper the pending procurement projects, which will not get cleared unless the Centre increases allocation at the revised estimate (RE) stage, the committee said. It has suggested the government match allocations with demands, preferably at the revised estimate stage, so that services can meet the requirements of operational readiness.The government identified 73 strategically important roads along the India-China border, according to this report released by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, the auditor of the government, in March 2017. Of these 73 roads, execution of 61 roads, with estimated cost of Rs 4,644 crore, was assigned to Border Roads Organisation with a deadline of 2012.“Only 22 roads were completed till March 2016, which incurred expenditure worth Rs 4,536 crore or 98% of the estimated cost,” the CAG report said.Of the 24 roads selected for audit, only six roads, costing Rs 164 crore, were completed up to March 2016. “Even these were not fit for running specialised vehicles/equipment due to limitations in execution of works”, the CAG report said.