News Excerpt:

With India in election mode, the allocation for defence in Budget 2024-25, which starts getting planned now, could take a hit. This could impact India’s deterrence posture, which defence preparedness is all about.

Status of India’s defence budget:

• India’s Defence Budget has been more or less stagnant - 
• Defence expenditure (revenue and capital), as a percentage of central government expenditure, has been declining - from around 16.4% in 2012-13 to 13.3% in 2022-23. 
• The Global Innovation Index 2022 pegs India’s research and development expenditure at just 0.7% of its GDP which places it 53rd globally. 

Need for Budget allocation for defence potency:

• The threat on India’s northern and western borders requires defence preparedness.
• Necessity of accretion in sea power to deter China in the environs of the Malacca Strait and further east, as well as in the Indian Ocean.
• The Army needs to modernise (technologically) and, considering its size, the Budget requirement would be considerable and appropriate.
• The planning and budgeting in the Indian military before the Russia-Ukraine war was for a short sharp conflict. 
• The logistics design was to stock up on 10i (10 days intense) war and build up to a 40i scenario. 
• The refrain has changed, with the leadership of the armed forces now visualising an extended war scenario, as seen in Ukraine.
• There is a need of  industrial bases during the war.
• The government’s emphasis on indigenisation through the Innovations For Defence Excellence (iDEX) scheme, the restructuring of the Ordnance Factory Board and service-specific projects such as the Baba Mehar Singh competition for unmanned aerial vehicles by the IAF requires defence budgeting.

Way forward:

• It’s time for political leadership to move the manufacturing and military Industry Complex up the ladder of self-reliance and Value addition by conflating best global practices with India’s homegrown ingenuity.
• The government would have to also seriously think in terms of privatization.
• India’s defence Budget should be given its due and national security imperatives overridden by electoral imperatives.