The usual myth about China and the comparison to India, with the usual blind believe that China did invest so heavily in indigenous developments because they wanted it, while the fact is, that China had no other option!
They have far less access to other techs and weapons and that's why they needed to develop things. If they had the chance to get foreign, maybe better stuff, they would prefer it too and NO they don't accept everything! If that would be true JF17 Block 2 and J10B would use the Chinese engines that were developed, but they are not and sticked with Russian engines, till the indigenous once are good enough!
And why are we picking up at missile technology? Because we have access to foreign techs, systems, partners...(Brahmos in various versions, Barak 8, Maitri SAM, CLGM...), advantages that China don't have and why they need to invest much more than we need!
Even with the huge investments, China is still largly dependent on Russia in core areas and we all know where most of their designs come from, but that again only shows that money alone can't counter the lack of know how and experience!
The most important point at Chinas defence investments is not the outcome they have today, since that is still behind of what Russia or the west can develop, but the huge amount of experience and know how they gather. Combined with their far more rational approach on developments and their excellent industrial capabilities, they will catch up fast and even will surpass most currently leading nations.
So if we want to learn something from them, then it's not that we need to spend more money, or just aim on indigenous developments only, but that we need a more realistic and simple approach in indigenous developments, use any chance to gain know how and experience (JV's co-developments, tech demo programs) and improve our industrial capabilities (offsets, ToT, inviting Indian privat players, making India to a manufacturing hub...)!
