On February 28, 1963, Morarji Desai as the Finance Minister, presented the Union Budget which had a Rs 708.5 crore allocation for defence; a whopping 38% share out of a total budget of Rs 1852 crore. This was after the Indo-China war in 1962. The realisation of the importance of defence, in economic progress of the country dawned a bit late in this case. For a nation which has been virtually at war, both overt and covert, the importance of military capability generation still is a discussion point in every Union Budget because of various other commitments and very cogent reasons, given the competing priorities, including meeting basic needs.