Defense Suppliers Compete for a Piece of India’s Multibillion-Dollar Military Revamp

The Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA ) is in talks with India for a $5.8 billion military aircraft deal as the country triples its defense budget, leading defense suppliers to compete for a piece of the multibillion-dollar action. India is negotiating with Boeing over the purchase of 10 C-17 Globemaster III aircraft, which would be the largest defense order from India for Boeing, the second-largest U.S. defense contractor. India's Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in February the government would spend $33 billion on defense in the fiscal year starting April 1. The Asian country's " defense procurement budget is quite huge, " Laxman Kumar Behera, a research fellow at the Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses in New Delhi, told Bloomberg . "The U.S. arms industry has become quite interested in the Indian defense market." Boeing expects to bid for as much as $31 billion of military contracts in the next 10 years as India looks to replace aging Russian-made equipment.