India’s defence budget may receive boost of Rs 50,000 crore after Operation Sindoor, says report

Nine spots were targeted by the IAF under 'Operation Sindoor' included terror headquarters of banned Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen.

After Operation Sindoor, India's defence budget may receive an additional allocation of Rs 50,000 crore under a supplementary budget, according to a report by News18.

The boost will take overall defence allocation past Rs 7 lakh crore for the financial year 2025–26.

In the Union Budget presented on February 1, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had already earmarked a record Rs 6.81 lakh crore for the armed forces. This marked a significant 9.2 per cent increase from the Rs 6.22 lakh crore allocated in 2024–25.

According to the News18 report, additional funds will be used to strengthen key areas such as defence research and development, as well as the procurement of weapons, ammunition, and other critical military equipment. The approval for the additional location will be sought in Parliament's Winter Session.

Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi assumed office in 2014, defence has been a key focus of his regime. In its first year, the BJP government allocated Rs 2.29 lakh crore to the Defence Ministry, a figure that has more than tripled over the past decade.

In a significant display of Make in India's military capability, India successfully conducted Operation Sindoor while showcasing indigenous defense technology integration — and all this, without crossing the Line of Control or international border.

Operation Sindoor, launched after Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba's offshoot The Resistance Front (TRF) killed 26 innocent people in Pahalgam on 22 April, demonstrated India's strategic shift toward technological self-reliance in national security operations.

In a press note, the government called India's response to the Pahalgam terror attack, as "deliberate, precise, and strategic." The government also stated that Operation Sindoor marks India’s journey towards technological self-reliance in military operations in all spheres - including drone or electronic warfare and layered air defence.

On the night of May 7 and 8, Pakistan attempted to target multiple military installations across Northern and Western India including Awantipura, Srinagar, Jammu, Pathankot, Amritsar, Kapurthala, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Adampur, Bhatinda, Chandigarh, Nal, Phalodi, Uttarlai, and Bhuj, using drones and missiles.

However, India's Integrated Counter Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Grid and layered air defence systems successfully neutralised these threats.

In the aftermath of the intense 100-hour military engagement with Pakistan, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh renewed the call for greater domestic defence manufacturing, stating, “If we buy defence equipment from other countries, it means we are outsourcing it and leaving our security in the hands of someone else. This cannot be a long-term solution."