India has raised its annual defense budget by 13 percent to deal with border disputes and fights with Pakistan and China and to give its army new weapons and armor. According to the news agency AFP, the two countries have been fighting for a long time over their borders, trade, and technology. Since the standoff with China in Ladakh in 2020, both countries have been steadily building up their military strength.
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute says that India is the third country in the world that spends the most money on its military. After a 13 percent increase in the budget, India will now spend a total of $73 billion on its military.
The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has continued to build military capabilities, such as border defense and weapons. It is now building its own nuclear submarines, and last year it showed off an aircraft carrier that was made in India.
Nirmala Sitharaman, India’s Finance Minister, said that the country will have a budget of 550 billion dollars, of which 73 billion dollars will go to defense. Most of India’s arms come from its long-time partner Russia. The rest come from the US, France, and Israel. However, the finance minister said that the government wants to encourage India to make its own weapons and military equipment.
India has rapidly increased military expenditure to equip the army on modern lines. With over 1.3 million troops, India’s defense budget is 2 percent of GDP. This is still far less than China’s, which spends $230 billion a year on its defense. The government has tried to allocate adequate funds for the defense forces.