Analysis | India’s first female defence minister since 1982 tasked with modernising military as China flexes muscles
India’s enormous army has also grown over the years even as rivals such as China have streamlined and modernised their armed forces
Deliver on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s goal of modernising the nation’s Soviet-era military equipment as border tensions with neighbours China and Pakistan simmer.
Most recently the country’s Minister for Commerce and Industry, Sitharaman was India’s main negotiator at global trade talks and succeeds Finance Minister Arun Jaitley who relinquished his additional charge of the key ministry. Before her ministerial stint, she was a prominent party spokeswoman for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party during Modi’s successful election campaign in 2014.
Under Sitharaman, export growth has slowed while free trade talks with key partners have stalled. In her new role she will have to accelerate Modi’s goal of spending as much as US$250 billion by 2025 on defence hardware, including jet planes, naval ships and drones as bigger neighbour China flexes its military muscle in the region.
Her commerce ministry duties also gave her oversight of Modi’s flagship “Make in India” programme aimed at boosting domestic manufacturing, an initiative that included a significant defence focus.
“Sitharaman’s elevation to defence is a bit of a surprise,” said Shailesh Kumar, a senior Asia analyst with the Eurasia Group risk consultancy, who added that she did not have any particular “breakout” policies in her previous post.
