Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will take centrestage on July 5, when she will announce the Union Budget 2019-20. Forces have high hopes from Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman that she will loosen the purse strings to meet the challenging requirements of modernising the armed forces as she gets down to preparing the first Budget of Modi 2.0. Before becoming Finance Minister, Sitharaman had handled defence and security experts feel that she is well versed with the expectations of the armed forces.
In the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP had centred its election campaign on national security and, with the Union Budget approaching, the defence forces have high hopes that implementation of some of the top-most manifesto promises will see the light of day in the Union Budget. The Union Budget is expected to address the shrinking resources for military modernisation and the consequent need for structural change in the armed forces.
While presenting the interim Budget on February 1, Union Minister Piyush Goyal had allocated Rs. 4,31,011 crore to the Defence Ministry. In his speech, Mr Goyal had said that for the first time the defence budget had crossed Rs. 3 lakh crore. A major chunk of the defence budget goes into manpower management leaving little scope for new purchases as the current capital outlay of little over Rs. 1 one lakh crore goes into servicing existing contracts.
Here are some expectations of the defence sector from the Union Budget 2019-20:
Irrespective of the constraints, the defence ministry has a task at hand to fulfil the requirements for new assault rifles, artillery guns, and bulletproof jackets for the Army to submarines and helicopters for the Navy and fighter jets for the Air Force (IAF).
Some big acquisition projects are lined up like S-400 air defence system from Russia worth 5.4 billion dollars.
India is also looking to buy MH-60 Romeo naval multi-role helicopters from the US for 2.6 billion dollars apart from an air defence system and drones.
Even defence sector pundits are expecting that some investment in manufacturing and construction of tanks, armoured combat vehicles, defence planes, space ships, and warships are made.
According to Care Ratings, the budget allocation for steel industry is expected to give significance to domestic production of steel that involves high end value added steel like automotive steel for high end applications, electrical steel (CRGO), special steel and alloys for power equipment, aerospace, defence and nuclear applications, rails for railways among others.
