<span style="color: #222222;">The government today said that defence expenditure has witnessed a continuous increase over the last five years. In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt said, a budget estimate of over five lakh 25 thousand crore rupees has been earmarked for the defence expenditure in the financial year 2022-23 which was over three lakh 79 thousand crore in the financial year 2017-18. Replying to another query, the Minister said, expenditure of over three lakh 86 thousand crore rupees were incurred on indigenous procurement of defence equipment by the defence forces for modernization in the last eight years.</span><br />