India boosts investments
Top Defense Budgets India Slates Double-Digit Spending Increase Neelam Mathews India is expected to increase defense spending for Fiscal 2011 (April-March 2012) by 10%, which would add approximately $3.2 billion to annual expenditures. Firm numbers will not be released until March. Defense spending grew at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.14% from 2005–09, and is forecast to post a CAGR of 6.59% from 2010-15, reaching $42.6 billion by 2015. This is due primarily to replacement of aging hardware and technology, fighting domestic insurgencies and countering hostile neighbors. India is one of the largest buyers of foreign defense items, with a shopping list that includes warships, fighter jets, tanks and other weapons. The planned modernization program will make it the second-highest defense spender in the Asia-Pacific region within five years, and the seventh globally by 2016, says consultant Frost & Sullivan. Nevertheles...