India to increase its defense spending by 13% amid growing tensions with China

Asia-Pacific, News February 5, 2023 , by IRIA No Comments

The wave of ongoing military modernization has reached India. The subcontinent nation plans to spend $72.6 billion in defense for the years 2023-24.

The major share of the defense budget would be spent on weapons procurement and enhancing the domestic defense industry.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the budget on February 1, 2023. A special emphasis in this year’s budget was put on has been put on defense spending with a 13% increment compared to the previous budget. The country’s annual budget stood at $550 billion.

Nirmala broke down the defense spending for 2023-24 by stating that $19 billion would be spent on defense capital. This includes the purchase of new weapons, aircraft, warships, and other military hardware, while $33 billion would be devoted to military salaries and benefits in 2023-24.

“This increase is a reflection of the government’s commitment towards sustainable augmentation in the area of modernization and infrastructure development of the defense services,” India’s Ministry of Defence said in a statement.

The statement added, “This will cater to the sustenance of weapon systems, PLA forms including ships/aircraft and their logistics; boost fleet serviceability; emergency procurement of critical ammunition and spares; procuring/hiring of niche capabilities to mitigate capability gaps wherever required; progress stocking of military reserves, strengthening forward defenses, amongst others.”

According to India’s Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, “This expenditure will close critical gaps in the combat capabilities and equip the Forces in terms of ammunition, sustenance of weapons and assets, military reserves, etc.”

*^{Indian soldiers in T-90 tanks participating in a Republic Day Parade. (Image Credit: TOI)}*

In the past few years, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government have increased defense spending as they aim to modernize the military while underlining his government’s commitment to boosting domestic defense production.

The South Asian giant employs 1.38 million people in its armed forces, with large numbers deployed along borders with nuclear-armed rivals China and Pakistan. India’s increasing tensions with China and its more prominent role in the Quad led to the recent military modernization. However, India’s total defense budget, estimated at about 2% of its GDP, is still lower than China’s $230 billion in allocations for 2022.

India and China share a 3,500 kilometers-long border that has been disputed since the 1950s. The two sides went to war over it for the first time in 1962. At least 24 soldiers were killed when the armies of the Asian giants clashed in Ladakh, in the western Himalayas, in 2020 but tensions eased after military and diplomatic talks. A fresh clash erupted in the eastern Himalayas in December last year but no deaths were reported.