New Delhi, Oct 16: Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has reportedly raised its annual espionage budget targeting India to Rs 1,300 crore following last year’s Operation Sindoor, with funds focused on building a Human Intelligence (HUMINT) network within the Indian Navy and Indian Air Force, according to intelligence officials.
An Intelligence Bureau official said that before Operation Sindoor, the ISI’s budget for espionage against India was Rs 800 to Rs 900 crore. “However, post Operation Sindoor, there has been a hike in this sum of up to Rs 1,300 crore. The reason why the budget has been hiked is that Pakistan wants to trap high-value targets within India’s defence forces,” the official said.
In recent months, the ISI has been specifically focusing on setting up a massive Human Intelligence (HUMINT) network within the Indian Navy and Air Force. Offices handling sensitive information are targeted through honey-traps or by exploiting security vulnerabilities.
The cost of establishing such networks has risen sharply over the past year, with high-value targets now being paid between Rs 15 lakh and Rs 25 lakh, compared with Rs 10 lakh to Rs 15 lakh before Operation Sindoor. Another official said the ISI has long sought to establish a human intelligence (HUMINT) network within the Indian armed forces.
“While several such cases have been reported in the past, the current level of urgency and the intensity of efforts are significantly higher than in 2015, 2019 and 2021, when major espionage cases were busted in the Indian Navy,” the official said. The official added that the espionage cases reported in October 2026 were the most worrying, underscoring the ISI’s intensified efforts to establish a HUMINT network within the Indian Navy.
Coordinated operations by the Andhra Pradesh police in Visakhapatnam, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the intelligence agencies have led to the arrest of 18 persons. They were arrested for allegedly sharing secrets and other sensitive information of the Visakhapatnam Naval Dockyard with Pakistani Intelligence Operatives (PIOs).
What is alarming is that of the 18 arrested, 13 are Indian Navy personnel. The number of Navy personnel who have been trapped as part of this operation by Pakistan only suggests how deep Pakistan seeks to penetrate the system. This also explains why Islamabad has raised its budgets so drastically to gather sensitive information about the Indian defence forces.
In 2016, there was a major ISI honey-trap crackdown after it was found that several junior-level naval personnel had passed on sensitive information. In 2001, four naval personnel were arrested for sharing sensitive information. In December 2019, the agencies launched Operation Dolphin Nose to bust a Pakistan-linked honey trap network that was based out of the Eastern Naval Command in Visakhapatnam, the Western Naval Command in Mumbai, and Karwar. Officials say that this time around the stakes are much higher. Islamabad wants to avenge the humiliation and losses it faced during Operation Sindoor.
During a series of high-level meetings, it was decided to hike spending for espionage-related activities in India. It was also decided that the biggest spending would be to set up a massive HUMINT network in the Indian defence forces. While budgets to the tune of up to Rs 25 lakh per person were fixed for trapping defence personnel, funding has also been set aside for logistics and SIM card networks, CCTV surveillance modules, and digital and media propaganda.
Officials said the cost of recruiting and operating these networks ranges up to Rs 40,000 per person, depending on the operation. Pakistan is currently focusing heavily on the Indian Navy, followed by the Indian Air Force (IAF). The aim is to observe the capabilities of both these arms of the Indian armed forces.
Officials say that the earmarking of a higher budget for espionage activities against India is a major cause for concern. Earlier, a substantial portion of Pakistan’s defence budget was earmarked for such activities. However, these allocations are now under scrutiny and have drawn criticism from political leaders and the public.
“For the current year, Pakistan has allocated a staggering PKR 3 trillion for the defence forces, and this has been questioned by many. To avoid further scrutiny, the army and the ISI have decided to ramp up narcotics, arms and ammunition smuggling and counterfeiting so that it can be used for espionage activities in India,” the officials say.
Another official said that the creation of the HUMINT network within the Indian defence is worrying on various levels. Going by the modus operandi, it does not look like they trapped these personnel for one particular piece of information. Pakistan wants to play the long game whereby it would keep paying these personnel, who in turn would give information on an almost day-to-day basis. The modus operandi is similar when it comes to the IAF, and Islamabad is looking to build up a major HUMINT network with the hope that its armed forces would have the operational advantage over India, the official said.
IANS