- India’s budget allocation for defence has remained fairly static for the past five years.
- All three branches of defence— Army, Navy and Air Force — require upgrades but the budget for modernisation falls short.
- Majority of the defence budget is spent on salaries and pensions of defence personnel.
Nirmala Sitharaman is all set to announce India’s defence budget next month — and things are unlikely to change.
At first glance, it may look like the Indian government has been allocating an increasing amount of funds towards defence.
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While the absolute amount has been increasing, defence expenditure has actually slowed down as a proportion of the GDP. Last year’s budget hit the spotlight for being the lowest since 1962 - which was when India went to war against China.
In 2020, a report by ICICI Securities predicts that the
allocation is unlikely to change.
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This paints a worrying picture when you see that nearly 60% of the planned budget goes towards pension and services. Last year, that figure jumped to 71% — leaving a mere 3% for civil operations.
