New Delhi, Apr 9 (IANS): The Ministry of Defence has decided that 25 per cent of domestic capital procurement or acquisition budget, amounting to Rs 21,149.47 crore, will be earmarked for the domestic private industry in this financial year.

It is in continuation with the government's efforts to promote private industry, MSMEs and start-ups in the defence production eco-system.

Further, to foster innovation and encourage technology development in defence, it has also been decided that an amount of Rs 1,500 crore will be earmarked for procurement from start-ups, including iDEX start-up, from within the allocations for Domestic Capital Procurement.

These steps will foster the growth of private industry, MSMEs and start-ups in the defence ecosystem.

Earlier, the Ministry of Defence had decided to earmark 68 per cent of capital procurement budget for the entire domestic industry during Financial Year 2022-23.

Accordingly, an amount of Rs 84,597.89 crore was allocated specifically for domestic defence industry in the current Financial Year.