India Among Top Military Spenders: SIPRI – Economics

Table of Contents

Recently, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) released its annual report ‘Trends in World Military Expenditure, 2019’.
According to the report, the global military expenditure rose to $1917 billion in 2019 with India and China emerging among the top three spenders.

DETAILS

Global military spending was 2.2% of the global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) with an increase of 3.6% from 2018.
The increase of 3.6% was the largest annual growth in spending since 2010.
Top five largest spenders accounted for 62% of the global expenditure.
The USA>China>India>Russia>Saudi Arabia.
India was at the 4th position in 2018 with Saudi Arabia at the 3rd.

Japan ($47.6 billion) and South Korea ($43.9 billion) were the largest military spenders apart from India and China.
Pakistan was at the 24th position compared to the 19th in 2018.
Its military expenditure rose by 70% over the decade 2010-19, to reach $10.3 billion while the military burden increased to 4% of GDP in 2019 from 3.4% in 2010.
Military burden assesses the proportion of national resources dedicated to military activities and the burden on the economy.

India’s defence expenditure is growing in absolute terms.
However, defence expenditure has been going down as a percentage of its GDP, due to the increasing trend in the growth of GDP.
In 2019, the expenditure was 2.4% of India’s GDP which was lower than that of 2.7% in 2010.
The Union Budget 2019-20, envisaged a total outlay of ₹27,84,200 crore.
Out of this ₹3,18,931.22 crore was earmarked for Defence (excluding Defence Pension).
Total Defence Allocation, including Defence Pension, accounted for 15.48% of the total Central Government expenditure for the year 2019-20.
It was 6.8% more than that of 2018 and has grown by 37% over the decade of 2010–19. If compared to 1990, it has gone up by 259%.
The Union Budget 2020-21, envisaged a total outlay of ₹30,42,230 crore. Out of this, ₹3,37,553 crore has been allocated for Defence (excluding Defence Pension).
Total defence budget accounts for 15.49% of the total central government expenditure for the year 2020-21.
It shows a growth of 9.37% over Budget Estimates 2019-20.
India’s tensions and rivalry with both Pakistan and China are among the major drivers for its increased military spending.

This think tank is an independent international institute dedicated to research into conflict, armaments, arms control and disarmament.
It was established in 1966 at Stockholm (Sweden).
It provides data, analysis and recommendations, based on open sources, to policymakers, researchers, media and the interested public.