In 2016-17, the defence ministry did not use Rs 6,886 crore for modernisation, and the amount was transferred to revenue expenditure to meet an increased salary bill. In 2016-17, the defence ministry did not use Rs 6,886 crore for modernisation, and the amount was transferred to revenue expenditure to meet an increased salary bill. India cannot afford a showdown with China on border issues.”The members concluded that the Chinese were able to issue such a threat due to the poor state of defence modernisation, which was caused by unutilised budgetary allocations for defence over the past few years. In FY 2016-17, defence ministry did not use Rs 6,886 crore for defence modernisation, and the amount was transferred to revenue expenditure to meet the increased salary bill. In the past decade, Rs 51,515 crore has been similarly returned from the defence budget for capital acquisitions.

Source: Indian Express July 14, 2017 00:11 UTC