India’s Defense Budget Among Top 5 in the World: Report

India’s defense budget is the five largest in the world, according to the Military Balance 2018 report by London-based think tank International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). India overtook the United Kingdom’s defense budget to become the fifth-largest defense spender in 2017.

India’s defense budget in 2017 was $52.5 billion, an increase from $51.1 billion in 2016, the report said. The United Kingdom’s defense budget decreased from $52.5 billion in 2016 to $50.7 billion in 2017.

“This represents a key shift in the military balance between India and the United Kingdom, with India allocating more capabilities to develop its regional resources than the UK in a global context,” Rahul Roy-Chaudhury, IISS senior fellow for South Asia, said, according to the Economic Times.

The report also said that China, with second-largest defense budget, spends three times as much as India. China and Russia are also challenging the dominance of the United States and its allies. China’s defense budget in 2017 was $150.5 billion and increased nearly 25 per cent in 2016-17, whereas India saw a corresponding increase by 2.4 per cent.

“India’s defense budget is still only a third of its neighbor, China. Post-Doklam, China continues to develop advanced airborne and land capabilities,” Roy-Chaudhury said.

The Chinese army has 600,000 active personnel more than India does. It has almost 1,200 tactical aircraft while India has only 785, and 55 more cruisers, destroyers and frigates than India, according to the report.

“The overall capability of the (Indian) army is limited by inadequate logistics, and shortages of ammunition and spare parts. Defense cooperation with the US continues to grow, with an increasing level of exercising and sales of US equipment… Development and procurement programs across the services are aimed at replacing ageing equipment, but many projects have experienced significant delays and cost overruns, particularly indigenous systems,” the report said.

The top five defense budgets are United States ($602.8 billion), China ($150.5 billion), Saudi Arabia ($76.6 billion), Russia ($61.2 billion) and India ($52.5 billion).

Despite having one of the largest defense budgets, the capital budget for the Indian Air Force was 46 per cent lower than its requirements, while the Indian Army’s was 41 per cent lower and the Indian Navy’s was 32 per cent less, according to a report by the Parliamentary Standing Committee On Defence 2017-18 presented in the Lok Sabha on Dec.19, 2017.

In 2018-19, India’s Finance Minister Arun Jaitley allocated $62.8 billion for the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in the present government’s last full budget before the general elections in 2019. Of this, $43.4 billion was earmarked for what is widely considered as India’s defense budget, and the balance was distributed between MoD (Miscellaneous) and defense pensions.