The Indian Army is facing further financial issues in creating its new 17 Mountain Strike Corps (MSC), after the service’s fiscal year (FY) 2016-17 budget plans allocated few resources for the project.
In total the creation of the 90,270-strong 17 MSC is set to cost INR646.78 billion (USD214.33 million). Yet the Indian Army’s INR1.1 trillion operating outlay for fiscal year (FY) 2016-17 included just INR265.08 billion of capital allocation for new equipment and modernisation, of which 75% is committed to previous acquisitions.
The 17 MSC is being created for deployment by 2021 along the 4,057 km Line of Actual Control (LoAC) with China.