MOSCOW – The Indian Navy received a meagre $3.7 billion for navalmodernisation from the country’s annual budget which was presented to theparliament on 1 February. This is just slightly up on the $3.6 billion lastyear, as India’s navy struggles to counter the Chinese Navy’s growinginfluence in the Indian Ocean.
Navy chief Admiral Karambir Singh has publicly admitted that the latestfund allocated is insufficient for a growing navy.
“It will have a huge impact on modernisation. With bulk of the allocationgoing towards payment of the committed liabilities, very little will beleft for new acquisitions,” Amit Cowshish, former finance advisor to thedefence ministry said while warning of the threat posed by India’sneighbours whether it is arch rival Pakistan, China or Bangladesh.
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India has developed goodwill in the recent past by being the firstresponder to IOR nations’ needs in case of natural disasters.
But according to Anil Jai Singh, retired Indian Navy Commodore and defenceanalyst, providing humanitarian relief to friendly countries is secondaryand the navy should prepare itself for war scenarios.
“Navy will have to induct more next-generation frigates, destroyers,corvettes and missile vessels and not only ships that are merely play rolein piracy or secure country’s 7,516 km long coastlines and 1,382 islands,”he added.
But the budget allocation suggests the navy is unlikely to receive fundingto buy new aircraft carriers, minesweepers, naval helicopters or jetaircraft.
The funding constraint is already being felt with modernisation plans puton hold and the number of warships forecast to be in operation by 2027falling to 175 from an earlier plan by the then Indian Navy chief SunilLanba that called for 200 ships, 500 aircraft and 24 attack submarineslink.At present, the Indian Navy has around 132 ships, 220 aircraft and 15submarines.
“What is point of 15 years plan? In the absence of committed budgetarysupport, navy is not sure whether their plan in the 15th year will beachieved or not. Still, navy’s plan is not realistic,” former Indian NavyCommodore and defense analyst Singh added.
Currently, India’s shipbuilders have been delivering only 1 to 1.5 warshipsper year. State-funded shipbuilders have ordered bookif warships wortharound $25 billion, to be delivered within the next five years.
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“In this scenario, from where we will build additional warships? And Alsowe have to keep in mind that several frigates or destroyer to bedecommissioned in next 10 years as well,” Anil Jai Singh asked whilequestioning the navy’s 15 year planlink.
It seems if the navy cannot build its much required third aircraft carriernow, it may not be possible for the navy to have a third aircraft carrierfor 15 years.The Chinese Threat
Chinese Navy has six to eight warships venturing into the India Ocean atany given time. The country has been building at least 20 warships per yearcompared with just 1 or 1.5 for India.
“Presently, China lacks the capability to deploy their warships for longertime in India’s backyard. But as their strength has been growing rapidly,they can rotate their warships easily especially when President Xi Jinpinghas laid out plans to turn the People’s Liberation Army into a modernisedforce by 2035 and a world-class army by 2050,” Anil Jai Singh pointed out.
“They (China) are doing what they have to do and moving at the pace theyare capable of. We will move at the pace that we are capable of,” IndianNavy chief Singh had stated on the country’s Navy Day on December, 2019.The Pakistani Challenge
The Pakistani Navy doesn’t currently pose any major threat to India. TheIndian Navy can easily choke the movement of Pakistani warships bydeploying some of its assets in the northern Arabian Sea.
But this could change in the near future if Pakistan receives support fromChina. As well as receiving eight submarines and four frigates from China,Pakistan has been developing four major ports– Karachi, Ormara, Jiwani andGwadar.
These developments are likely to make India’s energy supply line throughthe Arabian Sea increasingly vulnerable.
