New Defenсe Budget: India Seeks to Enhance Joint Ventures with Russia

India is seeking to enhance joint ventures with Russia besides prioritizing acquisitions of military items through trade in national currencies from its long-time strategic partner, defence pundits have said.

It is a welcome step that more funds have been allocated by the Indian Government to the Indian Defence Forces for new acquisitions in this year's budget, according to military expert Lt Colonel (Retd) J.S. Sodhi.

He reckoned that this will vastly help in big-ticket arms acquisitions and Russia being India's long-trusted partner in defence, stands a fair chance in supplying new weapon systems to India.

"The Joint Ventures (JV) between the two ocuntries in weapon manufacturing in India under the Atmanirbhar Bharat and Make in India initiatives has been successful with Brahmos missiles and AK-203 assault rifles as showcase examples. Under the Budget 2024, India would seek to enhance its JV with Russia entering new tie-ups in view of the good track record between the two friendly nations," Sodhi told Sputnik India on Wednesday.

On the other hand, as constant threat perception is carried out by the MoD, it would have laid out priority for various acquisitions from Russia, a geopolitical commentator and the Indo-Pakistan War (1971) veteran Lt. Colonel (Retd) Yashwant Umralkar highlighted.

"The one major advantage that New Delhi has while sourcing military items from Moscow is that the two nations have a Rupee-Rouble trade agreement. Hence, for acquisitions from the country, there is a mechanism in place where the payment can be made in Roubles, helping India save precious foreign exchange," Umralkar stated in a conversation with Sputnik India.

Moreover, he noted that Russia at present, and its predecessor Soviet Union in the past, have always been positively inclined toward India.

A Win-Win Situation for BrahMos

Meanwhile, Harpreet Sidhu, who is an analyst at military market intelligence firm, GlobalData Aerospace, Defence & Security, believes that the increased funding from the government would lead to more purchase orders for the BrahMos missile JV between India and Russia.

"Since BrahMos is already the Indian Navy's go-to product, this funding is expected to lead to more orders, guaranteeing a consistent flow of income and output," Sidhu stressed.

Except for the RAMJET engine, about 80% of BrahMos missile's components are already made entirely in India, making it an adequately indigenized product.

The analyst observed that this high degree of indigenization supports the domestic defence industry and technology breakthroughs even further and is in perfect harmony with the government's "Make in India" strategy.

He remarked that increase local procurement encourages collaborative ventures, however, meeting specific criteria and scaling up production can provide difficulties.

Notwithstanding these difficulties, the Indian Armed Forces can benefit much from the emphasis on domestic procurement, including cost savings, a decreased reliance on outside vendors, and the capacity to tailor goods to their unique requirements, Sidhu stated.

"All things considered, this funding allotment helps India's defence manufacturing industry flourish while guaranteeing the Indian Armed Forces have access to cutting-edge, reasonably priced, and specially designed weapons," he underlined.

With its high degree of indigenization, BrahMos is ideally positioned to take advantage of this chance and strengthen India's standing as a major participant in the international defence sector, Sidhu concluded.

Earlier this week, the Government of India allocated a whopping $75 billion for the industry expenditure in the current fiscal year, the fourth highest in the world behind the US, China, and Russia.

Among the key highlights was the budgetary allocation for the modernization of defence forces. As part of its capital expenditure on upgrades and newer acquisitions, the government allotted a fund of over $20.5 billion, a 9.4% increase in this domain compared to last year.

"The enhanced budgetary allocation will fulfill the requirement of annual cash outgo on planned Capital acquisitions aimed at equipping the Armed forces with state-of-the-art niche technology, lethal weapons, fighter aircraft, ships, submarines, platforms, unmanned aerial vehicles, drones, specialist vehicles," the MoD said in its statement.

Furthermore, the MoD assigned $12.5 billion for procurement from the domestic sector.

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