Agence France-Presse,
New Delhi: India announced Monday a hefty 24 percent hike in its defence budget for the upcoming fiscal year as its military fast-tracks acquisitions following the Mumbai militant attacks.
“We are going through tough times. The Mumbai terror attacks have given an entirely new dimension to cross-border terrorism,” acting finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said as he presented an interim budget to parliament.
India blamed the November attacks, which killed 165 people in India's financial capital, on a Muslim militant group based in Pakistan.
The 1.47-trillion rupee (29.4-billion dollar) defence allocation comprised 15 percent of the entire budget for the financial year beginning April 1, and Mukherjee said the amount could be increased if necessary.
“A threshold has been crossed, our security environment has deteriorated considerably. Needless to say, any additional requirement for the security of the nation will be provided for,” Mukherjee said.
It is the steepest increase in defence spending since independence in 1947 and experts said the lion's share would be spent on modernising the world's fourth largest military.
The full budget for the financial year 2009-10 will be presented by the party that wins power in upcoming general elections and will not come until around July.
Defence Minister A.K. Antony told an international airshow last week that the military had no intention of cutting down its shopping list, despite the effects of the global economic slowdown.
The 1.23-million strong army, whish is scouting global arms bazaars for helicopters, artillery, armour and infantry gear, received the largest share of the cash, with an allocation of 11.79 billion dollars in the interim budget.
The airforce, which is on the verge of handing out a 126-warjet contract worth almost 12 billion dollars, was allotted 2.86 billion dollars.
Six global aerospace firms are competing to grab the rich fighter jet deal which stipulates India will buy outright 18 planes by 2012 and locally assemble the remaining units under licence at a state-run facility.
The navy, embroiled in a squabble with Russia over an aircraft carrier contract, was allocated 1.66 billion dollars.
Mukherjee said the remaining would fund wages, pensions, military research and sundry expenses.
India, the biggest weapons buyer among emerging countries, has imported military hardware worth 28 billion dollars since 2000.
It has earmarked another 30 billion dollars to be spent by 2010 that also includes 3.5 billion dollars for 700 helicopters, 1.5 billion dollars for AWACS and an unspecified amount for drones, mainly from Israeli arms firms.
