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| BAE Systems, M777 155mm Howitzer |
By Vivek Raghuvanshi
NEW DELHI — India has failed to spend all the defense money allotted last year in the Capital Head, under which new weapons are bought, while the new budget represents a 10 percent decline in dollar terms.
The budget proposals presented by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Monday to the Indian Parliament reveals that nearly US $1.47 billion has not been spent on the Capital Head and the money was diverted to the Revenue Head of the Ministry of Defence for salaries and purchase of stores.
In a rare occasion in India's budget-making, Jaitley did not even reference defense spending in his speech.
With a total allocation of 2.58 trillion rupees this year compared with 2.52 trillion rupees last year, that represents a hike of 2.3 percent. However, the current exchange rate is about 68 Indian rupees to one US dollar, while last year the exchange rate was about 60 per dollar, thus resulting in less purchasing power.
Military officials said they were waiting for the second full budget of the ruling Narendra Modi government but are disappointed with the lack to attention to the defense sector.
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