India was the fifth largest military spender in 2016. India’s military expenditure for 2016-17 was $55.9 billion, according to a report by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
For 2017-18, the Union Budget allocated a defence budget of Rs. 3,59,854.12 crore (US$ 53.5 billion) to the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
In 2017-18, there was an increase of 5.3% in defence budget. Its share in the GDP was estimated to be 2.14% and it forms 16.76% share in the Central government expenditure.
US, China, Russia and Saudi Arabia topped the list. The military expenditure for US was $611 billion, China’s expenditure increased to $215 billion, Russia has upped its military spending by 5.9% to $69.2 billion, and Saudi Arabia dropped to fourth position with a total spending of $63.7 billion.
Global military expenditure was $1,686 billion. “The 10 countries with the highest military spending accounted for nearly three quarters (73%) of this total. These countries are the USA, China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, India, France, UK, Japan, Germany and South Korea,” the report said.
Interestingly, the military expenditure of US is larger than the next 8 military spenders combined, the report added.
