India, Feb. 2 -- Giving top priority to national security, defence outlay for the next fiscal has seen a big jump of nearly 16 per cent with a massive INR 7,84,678 crore allocation. The first budget after Operation Sindoor also marks a massive 24 per cent hike in capital expenditure with special focus on self-reliance and sustaining the pace of modernisation for operational readiness.

The total budget of INR 7,84,678 crore announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday for the next fiscal is more than last year's allocation of INR 6,81,210 crore. The total defence outlay stands at two per cent of the estimated GDP for the next Financial Year and shows a significant increase of 15.19 per cent over the Budgetary Estimates (BE) ...