India proposed on Wednesday that it would spend $72.6 billion, or 5.94 trillion rupees, on defense for the 2023–24 fiscal year, up 13% from the initial estimates for the previous period. The goal is to add more fighter jets and roads to its tense border with China.
As she unveiled nearly $550 billion of total federal spending in the annual budget for 2023-24 beginning in April, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman allocated 1.63 trillion rupees for defense capital outlays, which would include new weapons, aircraft, warships, and other military hardware.
In 2023 and 2024, she stated, salaries and benefits for the military would receive 2.77 trillion rupees, pensions for retired soldiers would receive 1.38 trillion, and various other sums would be allocated.
Sitharaman also cut the defense budget for the current fiscal year, which ends in March, from earlier estimates of 5.25 trillion rupees to 5.85 trillion rupees.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi has increased military modernization spending over the past few years while emphasizing his government’s commitment to increasing domestic production to supply forces stationed along two contentious borders.
Laxman Behera, a defense expert at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, which is funded by the government, said that the increase in the defense budget was “reasonable but not sufficient” when taking into account the requirements for modernizing the military.
He said, “During the pre-election budget, the government has tried to allocate reasonable funds for the defense forces while balancing other priorities,” noting that India needed more money because of growing friction with China along disputed borders.
The total Indian defense budget, which is estimated to be about 2 percent of GDP, is still lower than China’s allocation of 1.45 trillion yuan ($230 billion) for 2022, which New Delhi believes poses a threat to India’s and Japan’s neighbors.
Amit Cowshish, a former financial adviser for acquisitions at the Defense Ministry, stated, “The overall increase in the armed forces’ budget is as anticipated, but likely lower than what they asked for to strengthen operational capabilities.”
According to the most recent budget document, India intends to spend nearly 242 billion rupees, or $3 billion, on the construction of its naval fleet and 571.4 billion rupees, or $7 billion, on the acquisition of new aircraft for its air force.
1.38 million people are employed by the South Asian superpower’s armed forces, the majority of which are stationed along its borders with nuclear-armed rivals China and Pakistan.
Behera says that even though the defense budget allocations were lower than what the military expected, they are likely to rise as the economy recovers from two years of pandemic controls.
The 3,500-kilometer border that separates China and India has been a source of contention since the 1950s. In 1962, it led to war between the two sides.
In 2020, the Asian superpowers clashed in Ladakh, which is in the western Himalayas. At least 24 soldiers were killed, but tensions eased after military and diplomatic talks.
In December of last year, a new conflict broke out in the eastern Himalayas, but no one was killed.