India's Defence Ministry becomes the largest employer in the world

New Delhi, Oct 31: With 'Atmanirbhar' as the vision, India's Defence sector is steadily scaling new heights and claiming new milestones with a determination never witnessed before. Latest in this spree is the facility in Gujarat inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the manufacture of C-285 aircraft.

As the nation steadily inches towards its self-reliance goal in the defence sector, a new international report has emerged stating that India's ministry of Defence has become the largest employer in the world with 2.92 million employees.

It has 2.92 million employees, slightly ahead of US Department of Defense (2.91 millon), according to a report by Statista, a Germany-based private organisation.

The 2.92 million people head count includes active service personnel, reservists and civilian staff, the report stated.

"At the top of the ranking for the world's largest employers is India's Ministry of Defence. Combining active service personnel, reservists and civilian staff, the total headcount comes to 2.92 million - a touch ahead of the United States equivalent, the Department of Defense," according to the Statista infographic on employers with the largest workforces worldwide in 2022.

China's the People's Liberation Army has around 2.5 million people (excluding civilian positions), the report stated.

"The Chinese equivalent of the U.S. Department of Defense, the Central Military Commission may have as many as 6.8 million people in its employment, though that figure was not deemed sufficiently reliable to be included in this list," the report adds.

It has to be noted that United States, China and India are the top three countries when it comes to the military spending.

US military spending stands at USD 801 billion in 2021 while China, the world's second-largest spender, allocated an estimated USD 293 billion to its military, according to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)

The SIPRI report says India's military spending amounts to USD 76.6 billion and ranks the third highest in the world.

The Indian Armed Forces, which comes under the Ministry of Decence, consists of three professional uniformed services: the Indian Army, Indian Navy, and Indian Air Force. Additionally, the Indian Armed Forces are supported by the Central Armed Police Forces, Assam Rifles, Indian Coast Guard and Special Frontier Force and various inter-service commands and institutions such as the Strategic Forces Command, the Andaman and Nicobar Command and the Integrated Defence Staff.