Here's how the budget allocation for Armed Forces in India stacks up on the global scale

• India’s defence forces assert that they need more resources to upgrade their equipment and arms.
• India is already the world’s fourth-largest military spender.
• Many claim that India’s military spending is at its lowest since the 1962 war against China, however, India’s reduction of its military spending has been relatively flat with only marginal decreases.

India’s defence forces claim that they’re in dire need of modernisation. The upcoming Union Budget will decide how much the Indian government is ready to shell out for some much-needed upgrades.


Last year, the government set aside 2.04% of the GDP for the Ministry of Defence. However, more than 70% of it was spent on pensions and salaries.

Although India’s military spending is a mere fraction of how much China and the US are ready to splurge — it still ranks among the top five military spenders in the world. In 2018, India was the fourth-largest spender at $66.5 million. The country’s expenditure has increased by nearly 29% since 2009, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

While many claim that India’s military spending is at its lowest since the 1962 war against China, India’s reduction of its military spending has been relatively flat with only marginal decreases.


In comparison, other countries have been more stringent about tightening their purse strings — albeit they had a higher jumping-off point.

Other developing countries like China, Brazil, and South Africa spend a considerably smaller proportion of their GDP on military spending. Albeit, China’s GDP is estimated to be so large that even a small portion of it is quite large in absolute numbers.

Among India’s neighbours, Pakistan is the only one with a lower GDP but higher military expenditure.


See also:
Budget 2020: Five charts that explain what you can expect from India’s defence expenditure this year

India’s ready to spend on defence — just not on modernisation