India likely to hike defence budget

AFP, New Delhi
India is expected to sharply hike its defence spending in today's budget, despite peace talks with rival Pakistan, as it goes on a shopping spree for new military hardware to update its ageing arsenal, analysts say.

India, one of the world's biggest arms buyers with one million-plus troops, is looking to buy 126 new jet fighters to replace an accident-prone fleet of Russian-built MiGs, six new submarines from France, an anti-missile system from the United States and rocket launchers from Russia.