London: India’s defence budget, in comparison to other countries has increased and currently India is placed among top five countries in relation to the military expenditure.
India has pushed UK for the first time and occupied among the top five countries, according to a report by the London-based think tank, International institute for strategic studies.
This reflects the shift in the military balance of the two countries.
India had overtook UK as the fifth largest defence expenditure country with spending USD 52.5 billion. In 2016, India’s expenditure was USD 51.1 billion.
However, UK’s defence budget fell from $52.5 billion in 2016 to $50.7 billion last year.
According to the news reported in moneycontrol.com, Rahul Roy-Chaudhury, IISS Senior Fellow for South Asia said that “This represents a key shift in the military balance between India and the UK, with India allocating more capabilities to develop its regional resources than the UK in a global context.”
However, our neighbour country China’s defence expenditure, USD 150.5 billion is three times more than India and it stands among the world’s second largest defence expenditure country after the United states which spends USD 602.8 billion.
Rahul Roy Chaudhury says that “Post-Dokalam, India’s military balance with China continues to be significantly in China’s favour. Since 2000, China has built more submarines, destroyers, frigates and corvettes than Japan, South Korea and India combined. China will continue to dominate the region militarily and seek to challenge the US in the region as well.”
Russia’s expenditure of USD 61.2 billion and together with China’s expenditure on defence is challenging the military might of the United States.
India’s defence spending has increased by 2.4 percent, whereas China’s expenditure has increased by nearly 25 per cent in 2016-17.