India world's ninth biggest military spender: leading think-tank

India has become the ninth biggest military spender in the world, among 15 nations, according to new data released by a leading think-tank.



The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute has put India on the ninth position, sandwiched between Germany and Japan on one side and South Korea and Italy on the other side, in the list of 15 countries with the highest defense expenditure, The Times of India newspaper reported Tuesday.



Overall, the world military expenditure fell to 1.75 trillion US dollars in 2013, a dip of 1.9 percent in real terms from 2012, due to cutbacks by America and other western countries, the think- tank said.



"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," Sam Perlo-Freeman of the institute was quoted as saying.

