Finance minister attempts a clean-up job, keeps projected expenditure growth low.
'An expanding army, rising salaries due to the 7th pay commission, and raised pensions due to OROP are consuming money at the cost of badly needed bulletproof jackets, rifles, artillery, submarines, warships and fighter aircraft,' notes Ajai Shukla.
India's per capita expenditure on defence is less than $10, while the average expenditure of the top ten spenders in Asia is $800 approximately.
The Budget has evoked mixed reactions from Silicon Valley investors.
Minister of state for defence, Rao Inderjit Singh, on Thursday asked the armed forces to "prioritise" their requirements in the view of the limited budget and also spend the allocated money efficiently.
"I am personally averse to sealed covers. There has to be transparency in court... This is about implementing orders. What can be secret here," the CJI said.
'This prime minister thinks he knows everything.' 'He has to consult, he has to talk and he has to mobilise the best people, but having seen him function, I have no expectations from him.'
After bumbling for years since 2014, the Modi government seems to believe that massive government expenditure will lead us to prosperity supported by 'seat-of-the-pants' decision-making, observes Debashis Basu.
The end goal of defence procurement should be not import or indeginisation but securing the country through able and ready armed forces, says Air Marshal P V Athawale (retd)
After cost inflation, this year's allocation will buy significantly less than last year's, says Ajai Shukla
If this Budget was not packaged and sold as a Budget for the poor and for farmers, Narendra Modi would have lost the next election.
The corridor is expected to attract around Rs 1,250 billion investment and create 4,00,000 jobs. It will start from Mysore, pass through Bengaluru in Karnataka, to connect with Chennai, Coimbatore, Salem and Tiruchy in Tamil Nadu.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the fiscal deficit slippage this financial year (2017-18) was largely statistical.
'The Raksha Mantri's day at sea'/
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented his maiden budget last week in which he vowed to contain fiscal deficit at 4.1 per cent this year and lower it to 3 per cent by 2016-17.
'Not only in Kashmir, but in the rest of the country.'
'Is the appointment of a CDS likely to achieve the creation of battle-ready, tri-service military commands, from the current 17 single-service commands?', asks Ajai Shukla.
On March 13, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary had tabled the second batch of supplementary demands for grants in the House amounting to a total of Rs 2,70,508.89 crore.
Banning the import of platforms that are already being built in India serves little purpose.
The "bumper" 40 per cent increase followed a number of sweeping reforms intended to transform the "bloated People's Liberation Army, into a more modern, nimble fighting force".
Jaitley praised the DRDO saying it was "doing quite a lot to meet the requirements of the armed forces but the Services need much more and that will come through domestic industry."
US President Barack Obama signed a US $ 680-billion defence budget bill that provides US $ 2.3 billion military assistance to Pakistan with tough conditions to make sure that the funds are not squandered or diverted to affect the "balance of power in the region".
'Since each chief single-mindedly pursues his service's interests in the competition for turf and in core matters such as budget share. The CDS, therefore, must act as an "honest broker" whose decisions serve the broader national purpose, rather than narrow service interests,' says Ajai Shukla.
'On the tax front, most of the Budget proposals are sensible'.
The challenge for the RBI in 2024 is likely to be less about containing elevated inflation and more about curbing excessive financial market exuberance and a 'problem of plenty', notes Sajjid Chinoy, Chief India Economist JP Morgan.
The government may be staring at a modest slippage in fiscal deficit for 2022-23 (FY23), with the Ministry of Finance seeking parliamentary approval for additional spending through a second and final tranche of supplementary demands for grants. On Monday, as the Budget session of Parliament resumed, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman sought Parliament approval for additional gross spending of Rs 2.7 trillion in FY23 (which ends on March 31). While net cash outgo is pegged at Rs 1.48 trillion, the rest will be matched by savings or enhanced receipts, the finance ministry said.
'The fiscal situation is stressed (when is it not?!), economic growth has slowed, tax revenue has fallen short and the deficit is high if it is properly accounted,' points out T N Ninan.
Sheela Bhatt recounts the tension, suspense and disruptions during P Chidambaram's interim budget in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
A key United States Congressional Committee on Thursday overwhelmingly passed a bill that imposes conditions on Pakistan for receiving American economic and military aid which will depend on the action Islamabad takes against terrorists and the menace of improvised explosive devices.
The meeting was held at the newly built convention centre at Pragati Maidan, which will host the G20 summit in September.
'Make in India'presents a huge opportunity for jobs.
With access to foreign investment becoming easier, a host of Indian companies vie for a share of the $100-billion budget for equipment.
The revenue budget of the defence services is likely to go up 3.2 times in the next Budget if the recommendations of the 6th Pay Commission are accepted. On an average, the services had recommended a salary hike of up to 4.5 times. They had also sought a five-and-a-half times increase in counter-insurgency allowances. They had expected an increase of 3.8 times. The increase in salaries that has been granted is 3.2 times. Allowances, by and large, have been doubled.
Chinese military build up is a cause of concern for the countries in the region, a top American commander said on Tuesday after China announced a 10 per cent increase in its defence budget.
According to an Assocham survey, India Inc is not expecting much for itself in the upcoming Budget. The Budget is most likely to benefit the common man.
New Delhi will spend in 2006-07 about the same on foreign arms as on education and health combined.
The Budget session of the Parliament is likely to begin from February 25 with the Presidential Address to a joint sitting of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha followed by presentation of rail budget and general budget on February 26 and 28.
Defence issues have been a key impediment in relations between the two countries, with Japan repeatedly joining the United States in voicing concern about China's rapidly growing military budget
Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and some other MPs suspended from Parliament will not be able to attend the meetings of parliamentary committees of which they are a member or chairperson till their suspension is revoked.
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