Military expenditure increases as India, China, and Pakistan increase their budget allocations on Defence

India, China, and Pakistan have significantly increased their defence budgets for 2024-25. India allocated $75 billion, China $231.36 billion, and Pakistan ₹2,122 billion. The increases reflect growing regional tensions and a focus on military modernization amid global conflicts.

In the context of rising international conflicts and territorial conflicts, India, China, and Pakistan have all disclosed plans of major augmentations to their defence spending in the fiscal year 2024-25.

India has allocated ₹6. 21 lakh crore (approximately US $75 billion) to its defence sector, this accounts for 12% of the total. It was also spending about 9% of its total budget on roads. This marks an 18. And while the government has increased its budget for the health sector by 43% from the 2022-23 fiscal year, the number of trained healthcare professionals to deliver quality services has not scaled up in a similar proportion. Prominent budgetary provisions are ₹1,72,000 crore for capital acquisition to enhance the military forces’ edge, and ₹1,05,518 crore for indigenous capital procurement. The Indian government also has scaled up spending on border infrastructure ₹6,500 crore for Border Roads Organisation.

China remains the most ambitious of the three countries in terms of defence budget spending accounting to 1. 66554 trillion yuan (US $231. 36 billion) towards 2024. This represents a 7. still China has increased its defence budget by 2% more than the previous year, thus making it the ninth year consecutively China is increasing its defence budget even in the face of dwindling economy.

Pakistan in fact, has provided a much smaller amount in absolute terms but a impressive 17% increase was provided. An increase in its defence budget by 6% and the provision of more troops to the ISAF forces in Afghanistan. The nation has allocated ₹2,122 billion for its armed forces in 2024-25, as per reports, which is the second-biggest increase in six years.

Such increases in budgets can be explained by the escalation of regional conflicts and the perceived requirements for modernization of armed forces. India’s emphasis on the ‘Make in India’ campaign, coupled with the Indian Border Infrastructure, can be seen as India’s approach of readiness and the capability to engage in conflict in bordering nations. China has been steadily raising its military budget which also corresponds with its overall strategy of modernizing its military forces and increasing its influence in the international arena. Pakistan has increased its defence allocation even when the country is in a parlous economy, this shows the country’s readiness to strengthen its military might due to the existing regional factors.

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These three nuclear-armed neighbors have been steadily increasing their military expenditures and it is still unclear how this development impacts the stability of the region and the larger global picture.