Ashoka The Great
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India decreased military spending by 2.8 per cent in 2012 reflecting the concern of the Indian armed forces that modernisation was slowing down but it remains one of the top five importers of major conventional weapons.
The rate of decrease in Indias military spending was more than that of worldwide military expenditure that fell by 0.5 per cent in real terms, according to a report of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), a global watchdog on arms transfers, released on Monday.
A SIPRI report last month (March 18) had said that between 2008 and 2012, Asia and Oceania accounted for almost half (47 per cent) of global imports of major conventional weapons. The top five importers of major conventional weapons worldwide India (12 per cent of global imports), China (6 per cent), Pakistan (5 per cent), South Korea (5 per cent) and Singapore (4 per cent) were all in Asia.
In its latest report, SIPRI said military expenditure in Asia and Oceania rose by 3.3 per cent in 2012. Large increases were seen in Vietnam, where tensions with China over rights over the South China Sea, are prompting major naval purchases, and in Indonesia.
Global military expenditure has registered a fall for the first time since 1998. It has been driven by cuts in the US and western and central Europe, Australia, Canada and Japan. Countries in Asia, eastern Europe, West Asia, North Africa and Latin America increased their military spending.
We are seeing what may be the beginning of a shift in the balance of world military spending from the rich western countries to emerging regions, as austerity policies and the drawdown in Afghanistan reduce spending in the former, while economic growth funds continuing expenses elsewhere, said Sam Perlo-Freeman, director of SIPRIs military expenditure and arms production programme. However, the US and its allies are still responsible for the great majority of world military spending. The Nato members together spent a trillion dollars, he observed.
China, the second largest spender after the US in 2012, raised expenditure by 7.8 per cent ($11.5 billion) and Russia by 16 per cent ($12.3 billion).
Fall in India