India raises defence spending on China

NEW DELHI: India has a double-digit increase in its defence budget on Wednesday, with an eye on its increasingly assertive geopolitical rival China, with which it shares a tense and disputed northern border.

New Delhi - already the world's third biggest military spender according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute - will increase its expenditure to US $73 billion, a 13 per cent rise, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman told parliament in her budget announcement.

Relations between the world's two most populous countries are strained over border, trade and technology disputes, and India has tried to decouple itself from Chinese supply chains since a deadly frontier military clash in Ladakh in 2020.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has been building up its military, including its border defences and armaments industry, with a nuclear-powered submarine of its own, and unveiled its first locally made aircraft carrier last year - milestones Beijing passed years ago.

India still relies on Russia for most of its arms imports - other suppliers include the US, France and Israel - and Sitharaman told parliament that the government was committed to self-reliance in military equipment.

Domestic procurement would go up by 10 percentage points to 68 per cent, she said.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said that the allocation to defence is more than 13 per cent of the total government budget.

India has become more assertive in its efforts with multilateral groups such as the so-called Quad.

India joins Japan, Australia and the US in the alliance, which is a group of regional powers increasingly concerned about China's military and economic influence.

The country participated in its first joint fighter jet exercise with Japan in January, as both countries count China as a neighbour - to improve defence and security ties.