India’s defense budget saw a modest growth of 5.5% as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government focused instead on social sector spending and tax cuts ahead of national elections due next year.
Overall, military spending increased to 4.33 trillion rupees ($52.8 billion), up from 4.1 trillion rupees a year ago, according to the federal budget unveiled on Wednesday. India’s expenditure is a little over a quarter of China’s defense spending which is estimated to be $293 billion.
