Navy Chief raises issue of lower budget allocation, bats for defence diplomacy fund

Flagging the issue of low budget allocation, Navy Chief Admiral Karambir Singh on Monday said the budget share of the force has been reduced to 13 per cent from 18 per cent.

"Long term budgetary support is the challenge we have. If we build a ship, then it takes ten years to build. We need budgetary support, especially for the naval capability it is required... In Indian Navy, we were around 18 per cent of the defence budget in 2012-13 and now we are around 13 per cent," he said.

Admiral Singh, who was delivering a lecture here on 'Indian Ocean Region-Changing Dynamics-Maritime Security Imperatives for India,' also underlined the need for defence diplomacy fund to help other countries and reduce of the influence of powerful nations.

"India is looked as a security provider in the Indian Ocean region. We go to various countries. They require help in capacity and capability building. We make a lot of promises but we are poor on delivery ... There was a task force on defence diplomacy, which recommended that there should be a defence diplomacy fund," he said.

"So, if the Army Chief goes to a particular place and promises them equipment and when he comes back, he should not be fighting a war for the next two years to get items going there. It should be done quickly... This will reduce the influence of other countries going very fast in this area," Singh said.

When asked about the budgetary allocation to Indian Navy going down, he later told media persons that because of the budgetary allocation, "we have to do a little bit revamp of our procurement plan. Yes, it has limited us to some extent."

Emphasising the need of aircraft carriers, he said the aim of Indian Navy is to have three aircraft carriers.

"Aircraft carrier is critical and central to the Indian Navy's operating philosophy. Indian Navy has presently one aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya and the second one is being constructed at Kochin Shipyard. It will be ready by 2021," he said.

"But our final aim is to have three aircraft carriers so that we have two operational at any given time. When do people ask me why do you want to have so many carriers, I just remind them that PLA Navy is projected to have 5-6 aircraft carriers in the next decade and 10 carriers by 2049," he said.