Spurred border tensions: India’s 2022 military spending rose by 6%

New York: Spurred by tensions along its borders, India’s defence spending rose by nearly six per cent to $81.4 billion last year, ranking it fourth in military expenditures, according to an analysis by SIPRI, the premier think-tank tracking military spending.

The increase in India’s spending was attributed to “the effects of its border tensions with China and Pakistan” by the Stockholm Peace Research Institute better known by its initials, SIPRI, in the latest edition of its Trends in World Military Expenditure report released this week.

New Delhi’s “expenditure on capital outlays, which funds equipment upgrades for the armed forces and to the military infrastructure along its disputed border with China, amounted to 23 per cent of total military spending in 2022,” it said.