Over the last ten years, India's defence money has almost tripled. From ₹2.3 lakh crore in 2015, it jumped to ₹6.8 lakh crore now. Pretty impressive, right? But here's the twist. When we compare this spending to our country's total wealth (what economists call GDP), the percentage has actually gone down. Earlier it was 2.3%, now it's 1.9%. Think of it like this—you're earning more money overall as a person, but you're spending less of it on health compared to before. Does that mean you're healthier? Not necessarily.

The real action is happening in something called capital expenditure. This fancy term simply means buying expensive defence equipment like ships, aircraft, missiles, and tanks. In 2019, this was around ₹95,000 crore. Now it's almost ₹1.92 lakh crore. For next year, it could jump to ₹2.1 to ₹2.3 lakh crore. These are crazy numbers, but let's ask ourselves—what are we actually buying with this money?

Here's where modernisation comes in. This means upgrading old weapons and buying new technology. Defence officials say this part could grow by 20% every year. From ₹1.49 lakh crore, it could become ₹1.8 lakh crore. And here's the good news—75% of this money must be spent inside India. In reality, 88% of defence contracts went to Indian companies last year. This is brilliant because it means our own factories and companies are getting stronger. When money stays inside the country, it creates jobs, trains workers, and builds expertise right here in India rather than making foreign companies richer.

But let me be honest—this is also where serious problems hide. Just buying more guns and planes doesn't make a country truly strong. The weakest point in India's defence is research and development. Think of R&D like this: it's the laboratory where new ideas become real weapons. We spend less than 4% of our defence budget on R&D. Compare this to America, which spends 17%, China around 15%, and even South Korea 17-18%. In actual money terms, it's even worse. We spend only ₹25,000 crore yearly on defence R&D while America spends ₹11.5 lakh crore. That's like comparing a small shop to a supermarket.

Why does this matter? When we don't invest in R&D, we keep depending on other countries for military technology. We can't design our own advanced missiles, we can't build cutting-edge radars, we can't create new defence systems. We become like a cook who only knows how to follow recipes but can never create new dishes. Imagine if all our defence equipment comes from America or Russia—what happens if they refuse to sell to us? We become helpless.

The government promised in 2022 that 25% of defence R&D would go to private companies and startups. But honestly, this hasn't really happened properly because there's no clear system to actually give this money. Industries are now asking—please give us this money separately, don't take it from existing budgets. And good news is coming. The government is thinking about it seriously. Private companies have brilliant engineers and can move faster than government offices sometimes.

There's a programme called iDEX that helps young innovators create defence technology. It has already helped companies win ₹2,400 crore in defence contracts. Now, a new fund of ₹1 lakh crore is coming for deep technology projects. Industries want defence to get a proper share from this. This new fund is like an opportunity door opening—young Indian engineers could get money to build tomorrow's weapons instead of just buying today's weapons from other countries.

Here's my honest opinion: Money alone won't make India strong. Yes, buying new equipment is necessary. Yes, supporting Indian factories is important. But what we really need is to create new technology ourselves. We need brilliant minds working on Indian missiles, Indian planes, Indian radars. Right now, we're like someone who keeps buying better clothes but never develops their talent.

The question Budget 2026 should answer is not just "how much money?" but "where is this money going?" Are we just buying foreign equipment? Or are we building laboratories where young people can invent the future of Indian defence? Are private companies and startups really becoming partners, or are they just suppliers?

India's defence strength should come from Indian innovation, not just Indian money. More budgets are good, but budgets used smartly are better. The real test isn't how many crore we spend—it's whether we're building a defence system that is truly, completely made in India by Indian minds. That would be real strength. That would be real independence. (IPA Service)