India needs to revamp the Defence Budget

Defence budget India: The Defence industry of India has been witnessing skyrocketing developments in recent times. Ever since Prime Minister Modi rose to prominence in 2014, the government has shifted its focus on refurbishing the outmoded defence equipment.

Of late, under the aegis of DRDO and DAC, the defence capabilities of India had been undertaking great reforms with the incorporation of BrahMos cruise missiles, Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas, Main Battle Tank (MBT) Arjun, Akash surface-to-air missile system, Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System (ATAGS), K-4 submarine-launched ballistic missile, Astra Beyond Visual Range Air-to-Air Missile and Varunastra torpedo amongst other state-of-art technologies. However, the firepower of India still needs a significant revamp to counter the growing threats of China.

India needs to revamp the Defence Budget

As per various reports, the defence spending of India was close to 80 billion dollars, in contrast to that of China, which stood at close to 300 billion dollars in the previous fiscal. It’s worth noting that, China’s military spending is more than three times that of India’s. Additionally, China has been investing heavily in modernizing its military in recent years.

India, despite a significant increment in the defence budget on a year-on-year basis, still lags behind its Chinese counterparts. Therefore, it the imperative on the part of the Indian government to enhance the defence budget, so as to effectively tackle the growing military threats of expansionist China.

GFP report eye opener for India

Evidently, as per the recent reports of the Global Firepower Index, India is placed in the fourth spot while rival China stood at second and Pakistan is positioned at the seventh spot. The Global Firepower Index (GFP) ranks the military strength of countries around the world. The index considers various factors such as the number of active troops, tanks, aircraft, and naval assets, as well as financial and logistical capabilities.

The GFP is meant to provide a comprehensive and unbiased look at the relative military strength of countries. It is often used as a reference by military experts, government officials, and researchers. The ranking is based on over 50 factors to provide a unique and accurate picture of each country’s potential military might.

The report significantly brings out the dire need for India to speed up the pace of modernizing its defence capabilities, in addition to carrying out a gigantic boost to indigenous production and speeding up defence acquisitions.

To meet the ends of growing threats, the Indian government is bestowed with the responsibility to increase the defence budget so that the logistical capabilities and infrastructure can be improved. The Indian troops certainly are better trained. But in event of throwing Chinese and Pakistani incursions, the defence infrastructural facilities are required to be boosted. That is to say, the defence budget is an important aspect that would enhance India’s ability to tackle China’s military might. India has been facing budget constraints and has been struggling to upgrade its military equipment.

Perks of Enhancing the Defence Budget

Recently, India has taken some important policy changes to increase its defence budget and focus on its domestic defence industry, strategic partnership, and cyber and space capabilities. By increasing its defence budget and implementing these policies, India will be able to strengthen its military capabilities and better defend its strategic interests.

In addition, the increased budget would give wings to the domestic defence industry of India. It would also reduce dependence of India on foreign imports and furnish adequate finance for research and development under the “Make in India” and “Atmanirbhar Bharat” schemes.

Consequently, the increase in the defence budget would boost domestic production, create jobs, and facilitate self-reliance, enhanced and modernized weaponry, along with better cyber and space capabilities, which are becoming increasingly important in modern warfare.

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Moreover, an increased budget would provide more liberty to the government to negotiate better strategically significant defence contracts with like-minded nations. Conversely, it will help India garner more militarily significant strategic partnerships on the global stage, so as to benefit on the front of technology exchange and defence collaborations.

Though, if we look at the way the Modi government had been functioning in the previous eight years, one can clearly say that India is actively taking steps to modernize its defence capabilities and become self-reliant. The government’s focus on domestic production, strategic partnerships, cyber and space capabilities and defence exports seems to be in the right direction, but the pace and intensity of the defence progress needed to be amplified to curtail China.