In the wake of the slow economic growth causing concern
amongst the policymakers, the Defence Ministry has put its plan to seek
an additional budget of around Rs. 50,000 crore for the year 2012-13 on
hold.
When the Finance Minister
had announced the 2012-13 defence budget of Rs. 1,93,000 crore, Defence
Minister AK Antony had made it known that the amount was 15.5 percent
less than the estimated requirement of the services. Antony announced
that as per projections his ministry needed Rs. 2,39,123 crores in total
and thus they will require an additional amount of Rs 45,716 crores.
“The budget estimates were given in accordance with the assessment of
the new emerging threat perception from neighbouring countries and the
forces required it to meet the new challenges. However, with the other
ministries facing cut, the defence ministry has also put the proposal of
its demand in cold storage,” sources said.
Keeping
in pace with the emerging threat scenario around India, the Indian
Armed Forces – Army, Navy and Air Force- have been undergoing heavy
modernization in the recent years. A reflection of this is that unlike
about a decade of lost modernization when its sluggish acquisition
processes resulted in unspent defence budgets year after year, the
Defence Ministry has managed to completely spend the defence budget for
the second consecutive year in 2011-12. In fact, the Ministry had sought
an additional budget of over Rs. 3,000 crore.
For
the year 2012-13, Antony had said: “But because of the changing threat
perception, our Armed Forces need more aircraft, more warships, more
tanks, more helicopters, and so on. All these things need more money.”
In the current financial year, the Defence Ministry is expected to
conclude the largest open tenders to buy 126 medium multi-role fighter
aircrafts at an estimated value of Rs. 48,000 crore along with scores of
other multi-billion dollar tenders for artillery, helicopters and
warships reaching final stages.
In
comparison to the defence budget of Rs.1.70 lakh crore in 2011-12, this
year Indian defence budget was 13.15 percent higher at Rs 1.93 lakh
crore, out of which Rs. 79, 579 crore was to be spent on purchase of new
weapons and platforms. The hike though considerable as per the Indian
standards will be no match to the country’s eastern neighbor. China’s
increased budget has continued to cause concern in India. According to
Pentagon’s South Asian Defence and Strategic Year Book China’s total
military spending has increased by 189 percent between 2001 and 2010, an
average annual increase of 12.5 percent. As per data, China is the
second largest spender of defence after the US and India comes at
position 9.
