By VIVEK RAGHUVANSHI
NEW DELHI — India has proposed a 10 percent increase in defense spending for the financial year beginning April 1, but the plan includes a boost of only 3.28 percent for new weapon procurement compared with a jump of 9 percent the previous year.
Indian Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram announced in Parliament Feb. 17 that defense spending for 2014-2015 would be 2.24 trillion rupees (US $36.3 billion) compared with 2.36 trillion rupees in 2013-2014. Because the rupee was weaker at that time, the defense budget was worth only US $33.95 billion.
For weapon and equipment purchases, the equivalent of US $14.93 billion has been allocated for the next fiscal year, compared with US $14.56 billion for the current year.
Read the full story at DefenseNews