Army, IAF struggle to exhaust capital budget

Advertisement

New Delhi, January 29

At a review meeting of the Ministry of Defence, it has been found that the Army and IAF have been lagging behind in spending allocations under the ‘capital head’ of the Budget meant for new weapons, equipment and systems.

The 2021-22 financial year comes to close on March 31 and large amount remains unspent due to multiple reasons, including Covid-induced slowness in the business and manufacturing activity. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh reviewed the spending last week and found that the Army had spent only 40-45 per cent of its share of capital budget of Rs 36,481 crore.

The IAF was a shade better and had spent some 70 per cent of its allocation of Rs 53,214 crore. The Navy was best among the service and had spent close to 90 per cent of its allocated Rs 33,253 crore budget. The total allocation of the capital budget for the MoD pegged at Rs 1,35,060 crore for the ongoing fiscal. This includes allocations to the DRDO and BRO among others. At the review it was found that deliveries had been delayed and payment schedules got shifted. The services have been asked to list out procurements that are in final stages.