India raises defense budget by nearly 10%, pushes local manufacturing

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand — India’s Ministry of Defense (MoD) announced a 9.53% rise in its 2025-2026 defense budget as the country grapples with multiple security challenges, headlined by Pakistan on its western border and tensions with China to the north.

India’s MoD is set to receive a record 6.81 trillion rupees, equating to US$78.3 billion. However, only 1.8 trillion rupees – or 26.4% of the budget – will be allocated to new acquisitions. That is because pensions account for 23.6% of the budget, while the armed forces receive 45.8% and 4.2% goes to other defense organizations.

“The primary structural problem of salaries and pensions squeezing fiscal space for capital acquisition remains,” analysts Harsh V. Pant and Kartik Bommakanti, of the Indian-based Observer Research Foundation, wrote in a report.

The MoD described 2025-2026 as a period of reforms.

“In the current geopolitical scenario where the world is witnessing a changing paradigm of modern warfare, the Indian Armed Forces need to be equipped with state-of-the-art weapons and have to be transformed into a technologically advanced combat-ready force,” reads a statement.

Although Delhi says modernization is a priority, funding for capital acquisitions has grown just 4.65% compared to last year. Upcoming big-ticket items include MQ-9B drones, carrier-borne fighters and next-generation submarines and warships.

The government continues to push the objective of self-reliance in defense production. Indeed, 1.12 trillion rupees is devoted to procurements from domestic industry, representing 75% of the overall modernization budget.

To encourage greater private-sector participation, the MoD noted 25% of this domestic share is “earmarked for acquisition from domestic private industries”.

Elsewhere, there is a 12.4% hike on defense research and development, reaching 268 billion rupees. The MoD noted, “This will financially strengthen the Defence Research and Development Organisation in developing new technologies” via research and building private-public partnerships.

Pant and Bommakanti remarked that “the pattern of allocation on armaments sends a clear signal that the domestic industrial complex is prioritized and will be encouraged.”

However, Antoine Levesques, research fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, told Defense News that India faces a key challenge “in balancing the urgent requirements of its defense procurement through foreign purchases, versus fulfilling its longer-term goal of upscaling and upskilling its indigenous defense industrial ecosystem.”

India’s “Atmanirbharta” (self-reliance) defense policy is bearing fruit, according to official data. By FY2023-2024, domestic defense production had increased to 1.27 trillion rupees, up 174% compared to a decade earlier. This year, Delhi expects domestic production to reach 1.75 trillion, and even 3 trillion by 2029.

Simultaneously, Indian defense exports surged to 19.4 billion rupees in FY2023-2024, up 32.5% from a year earlier. The three top export destinations were the United States, France and Armenia.

According to the MoD statement, the defense-export goal by 2029 is 500 billion rupees.

Gordon Arthur is an Asia correspondent for Defense News. After a 20-year stint working in Hong Kong, he now resides in New Zealand. He has attended military exercises and defense exhibitions in about 20 countries around the Asia-Pacific region.

新西兰基督城——印度国防部宣布，由于该国面临多重安全挑战，包括西部边境的巴基斯坦以及北部与中国的紧张关系，2025-2026年度国防预算将增长9.53%。

印度国防部将获得创纪录的6.81万亿卢比预算，约合783亿美元。然而，只有1.8万亿卢比（占预算的26.4%）将用于新的装备采购。这是因为养老金支出占预算的23.6%，武装部队获得45.8%，而其他国防机构则获得4.2%。

印度观察家研究基金会的分析师 Harsh V. Pant 和 Kartik Bommakanti 在一份报告中写道：“工资和养老金挤压财政空间用于资本购置的主要结构性问题依然存在。”

英国国防部将2025-2026年描述为改革时期。

声明中写道：“在当前地缘政治形势下，世界正在见证现代战争范式的转变，印度武装部队需要配备最先进的武器，并必须转型成为一支技术先进的作战部队。”

尽管德里方面表示现代化是优先事项，但与去年相比，用于资本采购的资金仅增长了4.65%。即将推出的大型项目包括MQ-9B无人机、舰载战斗机以及新一代潜艇和军舰。

政府持续推进国防生产自力更生的目标。事实上，政府已拨款1.12万亿卢比用于从国内企业采购，占国防现代化总预算的75%。

为了鼓励私营部门更多地参与，国防部指出，这部分国内份额的 25% “指定用于从国内私营企业采购”。

此外，国防研发预算增加12.4%，达到2680亿卢比。国防部指出，“这将为国防研究与发展组织提供资金支持，使其能够通过研究和建立公私合作关系来开发新技术”。

Pant 和 Bommakanti 指出，“军备分配模式发出了一个明确的信号，即国内工业综合体受到优先考虑和鼓励。”

然而，国际战略研究所的研究员安托万·勒韦斯克告诉《防务新闻》，印度面临的一个关键挑战是“如何在通过对外采购满足其国防采购的迫切需求与实现其扩大和提升本土国防工业生态系统的长期目标之间取得平衡”。

官方数据显示，印度的“自力更生”（Atmanirbharta）国防政策已初见成效。到2023-2024财年，印度国内国防生产总值已增至1.27万亿卢比，比十年前增长174%。今年，德里预计国内生产总值将达到1.75万亿卢比，到2029年甚至有望达到3万亿卢比。

与此同时，2023-2024财年印度国防出口额飙升至194亿卢比，较上年增长32.5%。前三大出口目的地为美国、法国和亚美尼亚。

根据国防部声明，到 2029 年，国防出口目标为 5000 亿卢比。

戈登·阿瑟是《防务新闻》的亚洲特派记者。在香港工作20年后，他现居新西兰。他曾到访亚太地区约20个国家，参加过军事演习和防务展览。