Defence Budget 2016-17: The Bigger Worry
Calculations reveal that the capital expenditure has been cut primarily to accommodate the rise in salary and pension bills arising out of the implementation of OROP scheme and the Seventh Central Pay Commission recommendations.
Metamorphosis of the Defence Budget 2016-17
The defence budget for the next fiscal has been completely restructured, making it difficult to make like-to-like comparisons. The growth in the defence budget is bound to disappoint the strategic community, notwithstanding the economic factors that may be responsible for it
Defence Budget 2016-17: A Clear Message to the Armed Forces
It is time India devised appropriate tactics to meet the current threat. It is imperative that the armed forces prepare for ‘the most likely scenario’ rather than ‘the worst case scenario’. But to be fair, this can only be done when there exists a clear national military policy/strategy.
Union Budget 2016-17: Deciphering the Defence Budget
The underutilisation of allocated funds suggest that the meagre funds available in the modernisation budget after catering for committed liabilities have not been fully utilised. Thus, a thorough introspection for better expenditure management is needed.
Restoration of Inherent Financial Powers of Defence Services
The MoD Order mentions that the IFAs are expected to give due attention to macro- management issues, highlighting the need for them to be involved in the planning and plan-review process. These are laudable objectives, but a well-knit mechanism for their implementation does not seem to exist at present.
India’s Defence Budget 2015-16
One area where the 2015-16 defence budget is likely to hurt the most is in capital acquisition, which has already been under acute pressure in recent years due to the overwhelming share of the ‘committed liabilities’ arising out of contracts already signed
Defence Budget 2015-16: The Bad, the Worse and the Good
The bad news in this year’s defence budget is that it does not recognise that things are not going in the right direction but only the beaten track. And the poor track record in fully utilising the resources allocated for ‘Modernisation’ is the worse news.
Defence Budget 2015 -16: The Writing on the Wall
It is a fairly simple exercise to estimate what the defence budget will be given available indicators. My assessment is that the Budget Estimate for defence is likely to be around Rs. 250,000 crore, with 105,000 crore for Capital Expenditure and 145,000 Crore for Revenue Expenditure.
