India hikes defence spending by 21%

India to buy 126 French Rafale fighter jets for US$ 12 billion.


Afp February 28, 2013
India's defence budget hike will surely raise eyebrows in Pakistan. PHOTO: REUTERS

NEW DELHI: India on Thursday hiked its defence spending by 21 percent to $42.7 billion and promised that strains on the public finances would not hamper moves to modernise its million-plus military.
The government, one of the world's largest arms buyers, will raise defence spending to 2.3 trillion rupees ($42.7 billion) for the financial year to March 31, 2014, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said in his budget.
The figure is up a fifth from 2012-13 when the defence budget stood at 1.9 trillion rupees.
"I assure the house that constraints will not come in the way of providing any additional requirement for the security of the nation," Chidambaram told parliament.
The minister earmarked $16 billion as "capital expenditure" in line with India's ambitious moves to acquire the latest hardware.
The latest increase is likely to upset nuclear-armed neighbour Pakistan which has fought three wars with India since independence in 1947.
India is on the brink of buying 126 French Rafale fighter jets for $12 billion and is shopping for some 400 combat helicopters worth tens of millions of dollars, as well as artillery, drones and electronic warfare systems.
India and Russia in 2010 agreed to jointly build 250 advanced stealth fighter jets worth $25 billion.
New Delhi is also locally building a nuclear-powered submarine as well as a range of nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles which can strike deep inside China.
The two Asian giants fought a brief but a bitter border war in 1962 and despite several rounds of talks the two sides have failed to resolve their territorial disputes.

COMMENTS (13)

Naresh | 11 years ago | Reply

@Dawn: You stated : Pakistan spends far more at 3% of Pakistan GDP and 20% of Pakistani Budget. So, it would be better for Pakistan to concentrate on its GDP and not on India. . Please read the following Article : . http://tribune.com.pk/story/523465/budget-paper-extra-billions-given-to-army-acknowledged/ . Budget paper: Extra billions given to army acknowledged . It states : . The proposed accumulative defence spending adds up to Rs 970 billion or roughly 30% of the next year’s proposed budget. . As such the actual Pakistan's Defence Spending is Fifty percent above you figure of 20%. . Cheers

Sandip | 11 years ago | Reply

@Candid1: sure. But we need to keep our defense preparedness in good shape to ensure that no nation or non state actors would even want to become an enemy in the future as well. It's only now when shadow enemies have seen that their is no way that they can get Kashmir by force, that they have now decided to engage in trade. The belligerrance that was earlier there has been replaced with a conciliatory tone. That's what we need a strong military for.

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