India, Feb. 1 -- India on Sunday hiked its defence spending by more than 15% in the backdrop of Operation Sindoor, setting aside Rs.7.85 lakh crore for the critical sector in the Union Budget for 2026-27.

This includes a capital outlay of Rs.2.19 lakh crore to boost the capabilities of the armed forces with new weapons and systems, including fighter planes, transport aircraft, helicopters, artillery guns, missiles, rockets and a variety of unmanned systems.

The capital outlay on defence services for the next financial year is almost 22% higher than the budget estimate (BE) of Rs.1.8 lakh crore for 2025-26 and 17.61% higher than the revised estimate (RE) of Rs.1.86 lakh crore, according to the budget documents.

This means India spent an...