Aiming without arming: The message from the latest defence budget
The increase in defence spending for 2023-24 is not enough to even offset inflation, let alone any further decline in the rupee-dollar exchange rate.
Why read this story?
Editor's note: “I know that today’s era is not the era of war,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Russian President Vladimir Putin during a bilateral meeting last September. Though most Western officials hailed the Indian leader’s words, many others believed Modi was making a rhetorical point in order to create the right optics before the Bali G20 summit in November. But that statement seems to have been lent some credence by the Union Budget presented by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who gave defence short shrift and not even a perfunctory mention in her 87-minute-long speech on 1 February. Of the central government’s Rs 45,03,097 crore expenditure planned for FY 2023-24, the defence ministry has been allocated Rs 5,93,373 crore, or 13.2% of the total. This is just 1.97% of India’s estimated gross domestic product, and if one excludes the allocation of Rs 1,38,205 crore for defence pensions, it comes down to less than 1.5% of GDP. The parliamentary standing committee on defence has cried itself hoarse in recent years asking for a defence budget of at least 3% of GDP, this being …
More in Chaos
You may also like
Annus horribilis: 2025 was the year India learned it wasn't indispensable
It is the logical consequence of foreign policy built on a decade of illusion rather than the realities of power. The question is whether anyone in the government has the courage to admit it.
When it comes to lobbying in the US, Indian-Americans are not Jewish Americans
India tried to build an Israel-style lobby in Washington, DC. But money, race and ideology have kept Indian-Americans from becoming a political force.
GST Bachat Utsav is a colossal oversell
Beyond marginal savings for consumers, the promises held out by the GST cuts are a tall order. Maybe even delusional.
