India is one of the world’s leading military powers. It has an arsenal of nuclear weapons, an army of 1.1 million, one of the world’s biggest air forces and is building 45 warships and submarines. Provisional expenditure on defence imports between April 2012 and February 2013 was 251.26 billion rupees (about US$4.6 billion), the highest in the last three years, writes defence expert Pramit Pal Chaudhuri.
“Imports as a percentage of India’s total arms purchases have remained steady at about 70 per cent for the past 15 years,” he writes in World Review. But there are concerns in India’s security establishment that it is overly dependent on weapons imports, he says.
“There is an additional complication at the political level,” he adds. “The current government, a coalition dominated by the Congress Party, is particularly fearful of a defence scandal.”
A kickbacks racket involving the purchase of Bofors howitzers from Sweden contributed heavily to the defeat of the Congress government of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1989. His widow, Sonia, heads the party today and is especially sensitive to scandals in weapons procurement.
“Arms procurement is now an exercise in maintaining an image of political integrity, irrespective of India’s strategic or defence requirements,” says Mr Chaudhiri.
About the Author
World Review author Pramit Pal Chaudhuri is the foreign editor of the Hindustan Times, in New Delhi, India, and has been writing on international politics and economic issues since 1985. He was appointed to the National Security Advisory Board to India’s Prime Minister for a two-year term in 2011.