New Delhi: India proposed ₹ 5.94 trillion ($72.6 billion) in defense spending for the 2023-24 financial year, 13% up from the previous period’s initial estimates, aiming to add more fighter jets and roads along its tense border with China.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman allocated Rs1.63 trillion for defense capital outlays – an expenditure that would include new weapons, aircraft, warships and other military hardware, as she unveiled nearly $550 billion of total federal spending in the annual budget for 2023-24 starting in April.
She said ₹ 2.77 trillion would be devoted to military salaries and benefits in 2023-24, 1.38 trillion on pensions for retired soldiers, and further amounts for miscellaneous items.
Sitharaman also revised the defense budget for the current financial year ending in March to ₹ 5.85 trillion from earlier estimates of 5.25 trillion.
The defense budget, estimated at about 2% of GDP, is still lower than China’s 1.45 trillion yuan ($230 billion) in allocations for 2022.
India plans to spend near 242 billion rupees ($3 billion) for naval fleet construction and 571.4 billion rupees ($7 billion) for air force procurements including more aircraft, the latest budget document showed.
