India boosts military spending by 12%
Iran Press TV
Thu Jul 10, 2014 2:15PM GMT
India has boosted its military spending by 12 percent for 2014-15 compared to the previous year.
'Modernization of the armed forces is critical' for India, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told the lower house of parliament on Thursday, while presenting the new government's first budget.
'There can be no compromise with the defense of our country,' Jaitley added.
Up from 2.03 trillion rupees budgeted in the past fiscal year of 2013-14, the current budget would open up the military industry to foreign investment, while lifting the cap from 26 percent to 49 percent, said Jaitley, who is also India's defense minister in the cabinet of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Modi, 63, was elected as India's 15th premier on May this year after his right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won a majority in the parliament after three decades.
The country's current military budget is almost 50 billion rupees more than what the previous government agreed in an interim budget earlier this year.
The ruling BJP has long called for a militarily-strong India to counter potential threats from both China and Pakistan.
India is one of the world's biggest arms importers, traditionally relying on Russia and in more recent years the United States for equipment and technology.
Global arms manufacturers are wooing India in the hope of winning multi-billion-dollar deals and New Delhi is seeking to leverage some of that buying power to get transfer of technology and end the overwhelming reliance on imports.
MOL/AB
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