IANS

New Delhi, Feb 26: India's defence expenditure has been raised to Rs.147,344 crore for 2010-11, up 8.13 percent from the revised estimates of the previous fiscal, in the budget presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in the Lok Sabha Friday.

"Secure borders and security of life and property fosters development. I propose to increase the allocation for defence to Rs.147,344 crore. This would include Rs.60,000 crore for capital expenditure," Mukherjee said in his budget speech.

"Needless to say, any additional requirement for the security of the nation will be provided for," he added.

Though the expenditure has been hiked by Rs.11,080 crore, in real terms however, the hike works out to only 3.98 percent as Rs.141,703 crore had originally been allocated for 2009-10 but this was later revised to Rs.136,264 crore.

As in the past, the 1.2 million-strong Indian Army has been granted the lion's share, but at Rs.58,995 crore this Rs.439 crore lower than in revised allocation for 2009-10 and Rs.1,275 crore lower than the original allocation for the fiscal.

The Indian Navy has been allocated Rs.9,455 crore, just Rs.16 crore higher than its revised figure of Rs.9,439 crore for the previous fiscal but Rs.1,011 crore more than its original allocation of Rs.8,404 crore.

In the case of the Indian Air Force, its allocation of Rs.15,803 crore is Rs.529 crore higher than the revised allocation of Rs.15,274 crore for the previous fiscal and Rs.892 crore higher than the original figure.

Rather surprisingly, the allocation for defence ordnance factories has been slashed by Rs.1,835 crore to Rs.1,999 crore against Rs.3,834 crore in the previous fiscal.

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has got a hike of Rs.881 crore to Rs.5,260 crore from its revised allocation of Rs.4,379 crore in the previous fiscal.