Defence Accounts Annual Day: Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh launched various publications and digital initiatives of the Defence Accounts Department (DAD) during the celebration of its 279th Annual Day at DRDO Bhawan, New Delhi on October 01, 2026. He congratulated DAD on its nearly three centuries of service to the nation and commended its contribution to defence financial audit and management , calling it the backbone of the country’s defence preparedness.
During his address, Shri Rajnath Singh called for greater integration of financial systems of the Army, Navy and Air Force and stressed upon maximum digitisation, automation and transparency, with real-time updating of Management Information System data. RM urged the DAD to transition from “Annual Review of Balances” to “Any Time Review of Balances”.
Shri Rajnath Singh commended SAKSHAM, DAD’s project for digitising and integrating the Defence accounting and payment ecosystem hosted on a secure dedicated data centre and operating on the DAD WAN network. It uses the latest tech-stack with secure role-based access, enhanced validations and scalability, supporting the Department’s move towards “One Nation, One Function, One Application”. RM appreciated it’s integration with the Indian Army Financial Information System for budget, approval and bill data.
Highlighting the near 100% expenditure during FY 2025–26, RM lauded the joint efforts of DAD and all three Services to achieve this milestone. Referring to the success of SPARSH data cleaning, RM suggested automating grievance redressal through a Conversational AI ecosystem covering chat, SMS, WhatsApp, email and phone calls.
He also emphasised quality audit, digital data cleaning, and prompt resolution of grievances and court cases.“Our approach must be firm, fair, sensitive and responsible, especially when dealing with the legitimate dues and service rights of those who have devoted their lives to defending the nation,” said RM.
He stressed early implementation of SAMPURNA, a fully automated, end-to-end revenue procurement system envisaged to leverage data analytics, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for a valuable decision-support system.
On the occasion, the Raksha Mantri unveiled three major initiatives aimed at strengthening the integration of Financial Information Systems of the Defence Forces, improving accounting and tracking of defence expenditure and operationalising the Treasury Single Account (TSA) system in the Ministry of Defence.
Integration of SAKSHAM with Indian Army Financial Information System
The SAKSHAM bill audit and payment system of the Defence Accounts Department has been successfully integrated with the Indian Army Financial Information System (IAFIS), facilitating digital transmission of budget, sanction and bill information between the two organisations. The integration is a major step towards complete digitisation of the Defence payments ecosystem, enabling real-time sharing of information on bill status and budget balances and completely paperless processing of bills.
Treasury Single Account System in Ministry of Defence
The Treasury Single Account (TSA) system in the Ministry of Defence was inaugurated by the Raksha Mantri for Just-In-Time release of funds to autonomous bodies under the Government of India. Operationalised through the Payment Routing and Integrated System Management (PRISM) platform, the system is fully integrated with RBI eKUBER. It will facilitate better grant management for autonomous bodies under the Ministry of Defence and provide greater visibility of accounting and expenditure.
Revamped National Compilation System
The Raksha Mantri launched the revamped National Compilation System (NCS) for Defence. The NCS is the single source for accounting and compilation of all Defence expenditure in India. The Ministry of Defence operates under a unique financial delegation framework, requiring budget allocation and expenditure tracking across various Controllers of the Defence Accounts Department across the country. The revamped NCS has been comprehensively redesigned on a new technical architecture to provide accurate budget reporting and expenditure monitoring. The system will facilitate granular reporting to the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Defence, Service Headquarters and Field Controllers, thereby aiding policy planning and better budget management.
Raksha Mantri Awards for Excellence 2026
Raksha Mantri Awards for Excellence 2026 were presented during the event to recognise outstanding achievements by teams and individuals in implementing key reforms and projects. The awards recognise innovation, professionalism and efficiency in Defence financial management and contributions towards strengthening institutional capacity and enhancing transparency in the Department’s service to the Defence Forces.
The awards acknowledged the significant role played by DAD officials across the country in successful digitization of Annual Review of Balances (ARoB) and implementation of various initiatives, including SAKSHAM & SAMAR-SETU.
SAMAR-SETU is a centralised application for management of pay and allowances of Agniveers of the Indian Army. Operating from the Central Agniveer Pay and Accounts Office (CAPAO), the system manages the pay accounts of more than 2.3 lakh Agniveers through fully system-driven automated processes.
Raksha Mantri released three publications during DAD Day 2026 including the Comprehensive Statistical Handbook on Defence Expenditure (COSHE) 2026, Raksha Lekha Bharati and the Market Intelligence Report 2025-2026. A film showcasing the success of the System for Pension Administration (Raksha), SPARSH, was also screened.
Addressing the gathering, Controller General of Defence Accounts (CGDA) Smt Alka Nangia Arora highlighted the important initiatives undertaken by the Defence Accounts Department in current year, including major strides in the centralisation and digitisation of its core functions of internal audit, payment and accounting, financial advice and management of Defence pensions.
Chief of Defence Staff General NS Raja Subramani, Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Krishna Swaminathan, Chief of Army Staff General Dhiraj Seth, Defence Secretary Shri Rajesh Kumar Singh, Secretary (Defence Finance) Shri Vishvajit Sahay, and Vice Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit were also in attendance, along with senior officials from the Ministry of Defence
