Indian defence budget to rise… but not by enough
On 1 February, the Indian government announced a FY2019/20 interim defence budget amounting to INR3.019 trillion ($42.7 billion), excluding pensions, the highest ever figure in the nation’s history. This figure marks a year-on-year increase of 8.08%, but many analysts are complaining it is insufficient to modernise the country’s armed forces.
In the past year, the three armed services faced shortages of around 30% compared to what they needed.
Finance Minister Piyush Goyal noted that the total defence budget, accounting for 15.48% of the central government’s expenditure, represents 1.52% of national GDP. Yet India’s GDP is expected to grow 11.5% in
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