Abstract:
Despite more than 269 million or 21.92 per cent of the total
population of India living in abject poverty, the country
raised its defence budget in real terms from 9 per cent in
2014-15 to 11 per cent in 2015-16 in order to modernise its
defence capabilities. 1
In the past one decade, India has
remained a major and important arms market for Russia and
remained the largest conventional weapons‟ importer
globally. Indian enhancement of its military budget is
indicative of its hegemonic designs for South Asia. New
Delhi often justifies its increasing defence posture in the light
of its threat perceptions about China, but in reality, Indian
military buildup is more South Asia centric. This buildup is
creating a security dilemma among its neighbouring
countries. In this backdrop, the paper discusses Indian
military buildup in the last fifteen years and its future
security implications for regional stability.
