Defence acquisition budget likely to touch $35 billion by 2025: Defence minister

New Delhi: Over the coming two decades, India's defence acquisition budget may well touch an impressive $35 billion, at current prices, according to the country's defence minister A K Anthony.

Addressing the Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas here, Antony pointed out the increasingly important role that international defence cooperation was playing in formulating the country's foreign policy. He also pointed out that about 2.5 per cent of the country's GDP was being devoted to maintain the country's defence forces in a state of readiness.

According to Antony, in the current fiscal, budget estimates for defence stood at more than $18 billion (about Rs87, 000 crore). As far as defence expenditure was concerned such outlays placed India amongst the top ten countries in the world.

Antony also said that the country was likely to incur an expenditure of about $9 billion on defence stores in the current fiscal, a large proportion of which would be through imports.

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