Conditions right to lift defence spend to 2.5% GDP by FY30: Defence secy

Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh underscored that FY25 marked the first time in five years that the military modernisation budget was fully exhausted

With the Ministry of Defence (MoD) achieving new milestones in budget utilisation and contract signings, along with the expansion and diversification of the domestic defence industrial base, conditions are now aligning for India’s defence budget to ideally rise to a minimum of 2.5 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) by FY30, up from the current 1.9 per cent, Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh told Business Standard, in the wake of Operation Sindoor and the country’s new doctrine treating any cross-border terror attack as an act of war.

 

The May 7–10 clash with Pakistan, triggered by the April 22 Pahalgam