【New Delhi】India's cumbersome arms procurement procedures and a plodding Ministry of Defence (MoD) bureaucracy have long been blamed for shortfalls in combat capability. Now there is another, more worrying, reason - a growing crisis of funds, magnified by the lack of tri-service coordination.
Slowing economic growth, coupled with a weak rupee, has left insufficient money for the military's ambitious modernisation programme. With no tri-service chief to coordinate and prioritise the needs of the army, air force and navy, their 15-year "long-term integrated perspective plan" is only an unaffordable wish list.
So dire is the shortfall, say senior ministry officials, that negotiations with vendors are dragged on, simply because there is insufficient money for new contracts. The capital budget (meant for new equipment) goes almost entirely on previous years' purchases, for which instalments are paid over five-10 years. This year, only Rs 2,955 crore of the military's capital budget of Rs 73,444 crore was available for new purchases.
【News source】
Arms acquisitions languish without funds or coordination
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