India 3rd largest military spender in the world after US & China

India’s military expenditure in 2021 is the third highest in the world at $76.6 billion, according to the data released by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) on Monday. India is behind the United States and China but ahead of the United Kingdom and Russia.

SIPRI is an independent international institute dedicated to research into conflict, armaments, arms control and disarmament. Established in 1966, SIPRI provides data, analysis and recommendations, based on open sources.

Globally the military expenditure increased by 0.7 per cent, to $2,113 billion.

“Total global military expenditure increased by 0.7 per cent in real terms in 2021, to reach $2113 billion. The five largest spenders in 2021 were the United States, China, India, the United Kingdom and Russia, together accounting for 62 per cent of expenditure,” according to the data by SIPRI.

SIPRI said that India’s military expenditure was up by 0.9 per cent from 2020 and by 33 per cent from 2012.

“In a push to strengthen the indigenous arms industry, 64 per cent of capital outlays in the military budget of 2021 were earmarked for acquisitions of domestically produced arms,” said SIPRI.

According to the data by SIPRA, US military spending amounted to $801 billion in 2021, a drop of 1.4 per cent from 2020.

China, the world’s second largest spender, allocated an estimated $293 billion to its military in 2021, an increase of 4.7 per cent compared with 2020.