What Cheaper Spares Mean for a Soldier in Siachen

New Delhi: You can tell a lot about policy from the way it lands in the mountains. Forget the paperwork in Delhi — ask a soldier who has to start a generator at minus thirty. Ask the JCO who wonders if he has enough batteries for his surveillance drone when cloud cover rolls in.

That’s why the GST Council’s decision of 3 September 2025 matters. From 22 September, military hardware — including drones, radios, missiles, tanks, ejection seats, and even spare parts for rifles - attracts either no GST or just 5 per cent. For once, a reform has reached the freezing fingers that hold a rifle. 

The Hidden Tax That Bled Readiness

For years, soldiers knew it without saying: things cost more than they should. Budgets always ran thin. The Army Chief might ask for 200 drones; the budget stretched to 150. Why? Because GST and customs quietly skimmed off nearly 12 per cent of the Army’s procurement. That was about ₹7,000–8,000 crore every year — the cost of a division’s worth of equipment that went to waste before it ever reached a unit.

This year, the defence budget stands at ₹6.81 lakh crore. Of that, ₹1.80 lakh crore is for capital acquisitions, ₹3.11 lakh crore for revenue expenditure — salaries, pensions, maintenance. The GST reform puts an end to that hidden drain. For the Army alone, it means recovering those ₹7–8,000 crore annually. And across all three Services, analysts estimate total savings of ₹15,000–25,000 crore each year — nearly ₹60,000 crore over five years. That’s not loose change. That’s a whole modernisation cycle rescued.

What It Looks Like on the Ground

Take a drone battery. It costs about ₹80,000–1.2 lakh. Under the old system, add GST, and the unit quartermaster thought twice before signing for extras. Now, with zero GST, each saves ₹14,000–30,000. Buy a few thousand, and suddenly forward posts can stockpile reserves.

Or consider the drones themselves. A ₹10 lakh commercial UAV used to carry ₹1.8 lakh in tax. Now it’s ₹50,000. Saving: ₹1.3 lakh. Scale that to military drones — ₹50 lakh to ₹5 crore each — and the savings run to ₹6.5–65 lakh apiece. With more than 5,000 drones planned for induction by 2030, we’re looking at over ₹10,000 crore saved. That’s enough to kit out entire brigades with eyes in the sky.

In Ladakh, that means a patrol commander can rely on UAV coverage rather than sending men blindly into a valley. In Siachen, it means drone batteries don’t have to be rationed. That’s how fiscal policy translates into survival.

Sustaining the Soldier 

Revenue expenditure — ₹3.11 lakh crore this year — covers the gear that keeps a unit alive day-to-day. Radios, rations, fuel, spare parts. With GST exemptions, that money buys more. Projections say logistical reserves along the LoC and LAC could rise 30–40 per cent.

Put simply: longer endurance. Units can last weeks more without resupply. Equipment lifecycles stretch because spares are cheaper. Fewer radios and guns sit idle waiting for a part. Soldiers fight with serviceable kit, not excuses.

Readiness Where It Counts

The reforms come at the right time. The Army Chief, General Upendra Dwivedi, after reviews in April and July 2025, stressed “highest operational preparedness.” CDS General Anil Chauhan, in May, pointed to new BRO roads and bridges in the northern and western sectors — vital arteries, but useless without equipment to move forward.

Now, with GST relief, formations on the western front can induct more tanks, artillery, and surveillance gear. On the northern front, more drones, NVGs, and high-altitude logistics vehicles can be fielded. By 2027, readiness metrics — ammunition reserves, uptime of platforms — are projected to rise 15–20 per cent. These aren’t abstract percentages. They’re real battalions, real guns, real deterrence.

Industry and the Soldier’s Share

Three-quarters of the modernisation budget is earmarked for domestic procurement. GST relief strengthens companies like HAL, BEL, BDL, Tata, and L&T, as well as the MSMEs and start-ups under iDEX. Exports tell the story: from ₹686 crore in 2013–14 to ₹23,622 crore in FY 2024–25, a 34-fold rise. The target is ₹50,000 crore by 2029.

When the industry grows stronger, the soldier feels it. Delivery lines shorten. Equipment is tailored for Indian terrain. Export competitiveness ensures domestic orders are viable. That cycle matters as much as the headline numbers.

The Morale Dividend

It isn’t only about equipment. Soldiers and veterans — whose salaries and pensions together total about ₹1.47 lakh crore a year — now see everyday goods cheaper thanks to lower GST slabs. In cantonments, this extra purchasing power circulates through local markets. The morale dividend is subtle but real. When a jawan’s family feels supported, the soldier at the border stands taller.

Closing Thoughts

GST 2.0 is not a neat policy footnote. It is readiness in real time. It means rifles with working spares, drones with charged batteries, radios that don’t sit silent. It means fewer excuses, more endurance.

For a Colonel who has walked the icy ridges and sat through long winters in forward posts, the meaning is simple: this reform brings policy down to the trenches. It turns tax savings into combat readiness. And in places like Siachen, that’s the only measure that matters.

(Col Danvir Singh (Retd) is a decorated infantry officer, strategic affairs analyst, and host of Defence Dynamics, a leading television show on India’s military and security issues)

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