NEW DELHI, April 15 (KUNA) -- India has become the world's ninth biggest military spender globally among the top 15 nations, the Indian media reported Tuesday quoting a new data released by leading global think-tank, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
According to the data, India on the ninth position between Germany and Japan on one side and South Korea and Italy on the other, in the list of 15 countries with the highest defense expenditure, the Indian media reported.
The think-tank data shows that India has spend USD 47.4 billion on military in 2013, with the overall world military expenditure falling to USD 1.75 trillion in 2013, a dip of 1.9 percent in real terms from 2012, due to cutbacks by the United States and other western countries.
The media quoted top official of SIPRI, Sam Perlo-Freeman as saying that the increase in military spending in emerging and developing countries continues unabated.
"While in some cases, it's the natural result of economic growth or a response to genuine security needs. In other cases, it represents a squandering of natural resource revenues, the dominance of autocratic regimes, or emerging regional arms races," he added. (end) wk.hb