Where exactly does India spend its defense budget? Find out..

1. WITHdefencespending–bothintermsofdealsandin
termsofpossiblecutsintheBudget–muchinthenews,
thequestion’sworthasking:HowmuchdoesIndiaspendondefence,
anyway?AsTable1shows,accordingtoofficialstatistics,theshareof
defencespendinginGDPhasdeclinedsteadilyafterliberalisation,witha
particulardipaftertheUnitedProgressiveAlliancecametopower.
Internationalbodiescontestthis,calculatingcomparativespendingacross
countriesdifferently.AccordingtoTable2,Indiaspendsaboutasmuchon
defenceasaproportionofGDPas,say,theUKorFrance.TheUPA’sinitial
lowspendingcanpartlybeattributedtoahigherGDPdenominator,but
notentirely.AsTable3shows,evenasaproportionofcentralgovernment
spending,itdippedsharply.Inparticular,thisisduetoanunwillingnessto
spendevenwhathasbeenbudgeted,perhapsforfearofcorruptionindef-
encepurchases,thoughthatbegantoreverseafter26/11,asTable4shows.
And,accordingtoTable5,itisinterestingtonotethat,inspiteofhigh-pro-
filepurchasesforthenavyandtheairforce,inrecentyearsspending
increaseshavefavouredalltheforcesnear-equally.Big-ticketcapital
expendituremaynotbeasbigaproportionofjumpsindefencebudgeting
assomeexpect.AsTable6shows,Indianarmsimportsactuallypickedup
stronglyafter2008,withoneexception.Table7showswhichcountries
benefitmostfromthearmsmarket.IndiadependsalotonRussia
STATSGURU: DecodingIndia’sdefencespending
Compiled by BS Research BureauStatsGuru is a weekly feature. Every Monday, Business Standard guides you through the numbers you need to know to make sense of the headlines
Source: Budget documents of the Government of India
Source: Export & Imports Bank of India
6: DEFENCEIMPORTSPICKEDUPAFTER2008,EXCEPTIN’10-11
Indiaimports:Armsandammunition,partsandaccessories ($mn)
7:BIGGESTARMSEXPORTERS
Topcountries (in%)
3: DEFENCE’S SHARE IN CENTRAL GOVT SPEND HAS DIPPED
Shareofdefenceexpenditureincentralgovernmentexpenditure (in%)
Source: Budget documents of the Government of India
1: DEFENCE SPENDING PROPORTION DECLINES...
Defenceexpenditure (%ofGDP)
Table above shows how global arms imports are divided around the world. The percentage shows the country’s
share of total world arms exports, for the period 2007–2011. Source: SIPRI*% share of 2012-13 spending Source: Annual Report 2011-12 (Ministry of Defence, Government of India)
5: SPENDING HAS FAVOURED ALL FORCES EQUALLY
Service/department-wisebreak-upofdefenceexpenditure
List is based on the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute Yearbook
2: ...BUT IT’S STILL COMPARABLE WITH UK OR FRANCE
World’stop15militaryspenders
Source: Budget documents of the Government of India
4: AFTER 26/11, DEFENCESPENDMORETHANBUDGETED
Defenceexpenditureestimates (~cr)