How India stacks up on defence spending and public-finance discipline against G7 peers, emerging-market peers, and South Asian neighbours.
Every macro stat has a scale problem — is 4.4% of GDP for fiscal deficit large or small? Is 2.3% of GDP on defence restrained or hawkish? Context lives in comparison. These two tables rank India against the countries it's usually measured against. India's row is highlighted in saffron.
All fiscal figures here are general-government(central + state + local) so they're directly comparable across countries. India's 7.8% deficit / 21.3% revenue / 29.0% expenditure / 83.1% debt are the IMF's combined aggregates, which run a few percentage points above the Union-only numbers shown elsewhere on this site (4.4% fiscal deficit target in the FY26-27 Union Budget).
Public finance snapshot
Source: IMF Fiscal Monitor, Oct 2024 (general-government figures, 2024)
General-government revenue, expenditure, fiscal deficit (= −overall balance), and gross debt — all as % of GDP. Ranked by debt / GDP (most leveraged first). India's figures cover central + state + local.
29.0%
India spending (general govt) %GDP
21.3%
India revenue (general govt) %GDP
7.8%
India fiscal deficit (general govt) %GDP
83.1%
India gross debt %GDP · rank #7
Country
Spending % GDP
Revenue % GDP
Fiscal deficit % GDP
Gross debt % GDP
Japan
42.2%
36.1%
6.1%
251.2%
United States
37.5%
30.1%
7.4%
121.0%
France
57.2%
51.3%
5.9%
115.3%
United Kingdom
43.2%
38.9%
4.3%
101.1%
China
33.4%
26.1%
7.3%
90.1%
Brazil
45.6%
40.0%
5.6%
87.6%
India GG
29.0%
21.3%
7.8%
83.1%
Pakistan
20.8%
13.4%
7.4%
70.4%
Israel
43.7%
36.0%
7.7%
68.8%
Germany
48.5%
46.5%
2.0%
64.3%
South Korea
25.9%
24.0%
1.9%
55.2%
Australia
36.2%
34.8%
1.4%
49.4%
Bangladesh
14.8%
10.0%
4.8%
41.5%
Indonesia
16.7%
14.4%
2.3%
39.3%
Saudi Arabia
32.4%
29.6%
2.8%
29.9%
Russia
38.7%
37.0%
1.7%
19.8%
Defence spending
Source: SIPRI Military Expenditure Database, Apr 2025 release (2024 values, current US$)
Ranked by absolute spend (US$ billion, current 2024 prices). The right column shows the defence budget as a share of GDP.
$86.1B
India · defence spend (2024)
#5
of 16 countries tracked
2.3%
India · defence as % of GDP
#
Country
Spend ($ bn, 2024)
US$ bn
% GDP
1United States
$997.0B3.4%
2China
$314.0B1.7%
3Russia
$149.0B7.1%
4Germany
$88.5B1.9%
5India ★
$86.1B2.3%
6United Kingdom
$81.8B2.3%
7Saudi Arabia
$80.3B7.3%
8France
$64.7B2.1%
9Japan
$55.3B1.4%
10South Korea
$47.6B2.6%
11Israel
$46.5B8.8%
12Australia
$33.8B1.9%
13Brazil
$20.9B1.1%
14Indonesia
$10.2B0.7%
15Pakistan
$10.2B2.8%
16Bangladesh
$4.6B1.1%
Defence: SIPRI Military Expenditure Database, Apr 2025 release (2024 values, current US$)
Public finance: IMF Fiscal Monitor, Oct 2024 (general-government figures, 2024)
All figures for 2024. General government = central + state + local. India figures shown here are the IMF's combined general-government aggregates, which run a few percentage points above the Union-only numbers we track elsewhere on this site. Sri Lanka is omitted because IMF Fiscal Monitor Oct 2024 does not report 2024 entries for it; China/Russia/Saudi Arabia defence figures are SIPRI estimates, not official budgets.