Guns vs Butter-5: 'India can make do with defence spend of 2% of GDP'

The last of a 5-part series points out that the Standing Committee on Defence report says India will not be able to absorb much more on defence

The 35th Report of the 17th Lok Sabha’s Standing Committee on Defence, which was tabled before Parliament on March 21, reveals that successive defence budgets from FY19 to the most recent one — for FY24 — have steadily increased in real terms, but decreased as a proportion of the national economy (gross domestic product or GDP).

Defence allocations have also decreased steadily as a percentage of the central government expenditure (CGE) each year.

“The committee has been apprised that the total defence budget [including MoD (civil) and defence pensions] is Rs 593,537 crore for FY24, which is 13.18 per cent of total central government expenditure (CGE) and 1.97 per cent of the GDP for FY24,” said the report.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) also told the Standing Committee on Defence that the capital budget for FY24 amounted to approximately 17.12 per cent of the total capital spending of the central government.

Justifying India’s sub-2 per cent level of defence spending, the defence secretary told the stan­ding committee that, in accordance with global norms, governments usually spend three per cent of GDP on defence, two per cent on healthcare and three per cent on agriculture.

“Three per cent of the GDP will be around Rs 10 lakh crore, if we take our next year’s GDP to be around US$3.2 trillion. The MoD may not be able to absorb three per cent of the GDP. We may not require that much. What is required for the defence ministry has (already) been allocated.”

The defence secretary was asked whether India was spending adequat­ely on developing bo­rder infrastructure that could compare with neighbo­uring countries. He responded: “Infrastructure is a very important factor in winning a war. A very long-term plan has been prepared. It is being revised every year for border infrastructure. As you see, under the Udaan scheme we are building several airfields, airports all along the border and also in the interior of the country. We are developing our infrastructure like never before.”

When asked about what steps were being contemplated for achieving integration among the three services and the creation of integrated theatre commands (ITCs), the MoD responded in writing.

“Deliberations on reorganising the armed forces into ITCs are in progress. The ITCs will facilitate better coordination and integrated application of force which will enhance operational efficiency and optimise resource utilisation. The likely benefits will be: Enhanced operational effectiveness; optimal utilisation of resources; synergy in capability development and (the use of) emerging defence technologies, (such as) next-generation weapons, artificial intelligence, disruptive technologies etc.,” said the MoD.