India becomes third largest military spender in the world

India’s rivalry with both Pakistan and China has been projected as the main reason for the increase in military expenditure.

Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) released a report stating that India has become the third country to spend largely on the military, after the US and China.

As per the report, this is the first time that India and China are among the top military spenders. India’s rivalry with both Pakistan and China has been projected as the main reason for the increase in military expenditure.

SIPRO report named ‘Trends in World Military Expenditure, 2019’ mentioned that India’s expenditure on the military was the highest military spending in South Asia.

The rise in India’s Military Expenditure:

The report released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) showed that India increased its military spending by 6.8 percent to $71.1 billion in 2019.

The military expenditure in India has increased significantly over the past few decades. The growth in the expenditure over the 30 year period 1990 to 2019 was 259 percent and over the decade 2010-2019, it was 37 percent. However, in India military burden fell from 2.7 percent of GDP in 2010 to 2.4 percent in 2019.

As per SIPRI senior researcher, the rise of India’s expenditure on the military can be because of its increasing rivalry with both Pakistan and China. In 2018, India was on fourth after Saudi Arabia as the largest military spender. In 2018, India spent $66.5 billion on the military.

India’s has grown its military spending also because of an expansion in the salary and pension bills of its armed forces personnel. Another reason is the capital expenditure for submarines, procuring warships, helicopters, and aircraft.

Military Expenditure of countries all over the world:

•  The five largest spenders on the military that included Saudi Arabia and Russia accounted for 62% of the expenditure in 2019.

•  In 2019, the total global military expenditure rose to $1,917 billion. It is an increase of 3.6 percent from 2018 along with the largest annual growth in spending since 2010.

•  In the US, military spending is the highest. It grew by 5.3 percent to a total of $732 billion in 2019. The military expenditure by the US accounted for 38 percent of the global military spending.

•  The world’s second-largest military spender China is estimated to have allocated $261 billion to the military in 2019. Its expenditure is equivalent to 14 percent of the global military expenditure. The growth in China’s military spending has been in a close match with the country’s economic growth.

•  In Pakistan, the military expenditure rose by 70 percent over the decade 2010-2019 that reached $10.3 billion last year. On world military spending, Pakistan was at the 24^th position last year.

•  The decrease in military expenditure by Saudi Arabia and increase in Russia’s spending (4.5 percent) in 2019, pushed Russia to the fourth position from fifth and led to Saudi Arabia’s fall from third to fifth.