Increase defence spending

The allocations in the annual budgets can't keep falling as a share of the total expenditure

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Over the past few years, India's external security threats have escalated, even as our defence capabilities have stagnated or, in some cases, declined. This must be reversed as it would be difficult to further the country's socio-economic development objectives in the absence of an assured level of stability in the neighbourhood. The irony is that while everyone in the government acknowledges this, the allocations in the annual budgets on defence have been falling as a share of the total expenditure.

In 2024-25, the allocation was ₹6.22 lakh crore or about 13% of the Centre's total expenditure. This was smaller than the 17% share in 2014-15 and 17.8% in 2016-17 or even the 13.9% shares in the revised estimates for 2023-24. The Standing Committee on Defence had, in 2018, recommended that the allocation to defence be fixed at about 3% of GDP.

However, as a share of GDP, the allocation has consistently fallen from 2.4% in 2020-21 to 1.92% in 2024-25.