India Budget 2017: Defense Spending Up 10 Percent Amid Pakistan, China Disputes

India has announced a boost to its defense budget of more than 10 percent for the second consecutive year. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said Wednesday the budget would increase by 2.74 trillion Indian rupees ($40 billion) for the coming fiscal year, the equivalent of a 10.5 percent rise from the previous year.

The continued enlarging of the defense budget falls in line with expectations. Experts had said an increase of 10 percent was necessary to combat inflation and to continue the modernization of India’s aging Soviet-era military hardware. Excluding the amount allocated to pensions, the amount is equal to a 5.8 percent increase.

The state of India’s military recently made headlines after a soldier leaked a video illustrating the substandard conditions they were being made to work in on the front line of the Kashmir border dispute with neighbor Pakistan. Meanwhile, another soldier spoke out about poor facilities and inadequate pay and leave.

India continues to be locked in a standoff with Pakistan over the long contested border in Kashmir. Tensions rose once more when last September India responded to a terrorist attack on one of its army bases, which it claimed was launched by Pakistani militants, by conducting a “surgical strike” on the Pakistan side of the divide.

At the same time, India has seen relations further deteriorate with China. Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently suggested that China was supporting terrorism with its $46 billion investment in the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which passes through parts of Kashmir controlled by Pakistan.

China remains by far the biggest military spender in the region, spending $215 billion in 2015, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. While China’s military expenditure went up by over a $100 billion since 2009, India’s had increased by just $3 billion in the same time period.

The amount dedicated to capital outlay, meant for acquiring hardware such as aircrafts and tanks, rose around 10 percent in India’s latest budget. In total, the amount allocated for defense represents 1.62 percent of the country’s GDP.