Mumbai: The government has set aside 68 per cent of capital outlay of defence budget for domestic industries. Defence Minister, Rajnath Singh said on Twitter, "The 68 per cent of defence capital procurement budget has been allocated towards local procurement. It is in line with the 'vocal for local' push and it will certainly boost the domestic defence industries."

Commenting on it, Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers (SIDM) president, SP Shukla said, "SIDM welcomes announcement of setting aside 68 per cent of capital outlay of defence budget for domestic industries, up from 58 per cent in the previous year. This will sustain investments and attract fresh capacity creation."

Creation of a nodal body for setting up testing and certification requirements of defence systems and platforms will help domestic industry through faster processes and cost-efficiency, he added.

Allocation of 25 per cent of defence R&D budget for startups, academia and private industry is a much-needed reform. We thank Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Finance for this major boost to research and innovation, he added.

The Government has hiked the defence budget by 9.83 per cent. Net defence budget, including pension, now stands at Rs 5.25 lakh crore, whereas capital budget was at Rs 1.52 lakh crore, from Rs 1.35 lakh crore a year ago, an increase of 11 per cent. It is all set to give a big boost in defence budget. Total capital budget of defence ministry is over Rs 1.6 lakh crore. In addition, another Rs 1,96,000 crore has been given for defence optical fibres.

"68 per cent of the capital procurement budget for defence to be earmarked for domestic industry to promote #Aatmanirbharta and reduce dependence on imports of defence equipment. This is up from the 58 per cent last fiscal," finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman said in her speech. 25 per cent of India's defence R&D budget has been reserved for private industry and startups. The R&D sector looks the most promising! "Defence R&D to be opened up for private sector, startups", she said.

Commenting on it ex Army Chief, Ved Malik said: "Some additional allocation in defence budget particularly capital account , will not only meet some urgent demands of armed forces, but also encourage defence Atmanirbhartaa. Will that happen tomorrow?" Special economic zones will be replaced with new legislation. Moreover, the government will set up an umbrella body for defence equipment certification. "This Budget is revolutionary and will create a robust defence-industrial complex if implemented successful," said Ved Malik, an ex-Army Chief.