India, Largest Importer Of Arms In 2018-22, Ukraine Is Third-largest In 2022: SIPRI

Despite an 11 per cent drop in arms imports between 2013-17 and 2018-22, India remains the world's top importer of military hardware, according to a report released on Monday by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

India's arms imports fell 11 per cent between 2013-17 and 2018-22, but the country remains the world's top importer of military hardware, according to a report released on Monday by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). The report comes at a time when India is redoubling its efforts to achieve self-sufficiency in defence manufacturing.

According to data published by the think tank that measures weapons imports over five-year periods, India had the highest share of global arms imports in the last five years at 11 per cent, followed by Saudi Arabia (9.6 per cent), Qatar (6.4 per cent), Australia (4.7 per cent) and China (4.7 per cent).

The latest report confirms the findings of last year's Sipri report. According to 2022, India's imports fell 21 per cent between 2012-16 and 2017-21, but the country remained the world's largest arms importer. According to the new report, the reasons for the decline in India's imports include efforts to replace imports with domestic products and a complex procurement process.

Over the last four to five years, India has taken a slew of steps to increase its defence self-reliance. These include establishing a separate budget for purchasing locally manufactured military hardware, increasing foreign direct investment from 49 per cent to 74 per cent and notifying hundreds of weapons and systems that cannot be imported and will be indigenous over the next five to six years.

In this year's defence budget, approximately 1 lakh crore was set aside for domestic procurement, compared to 84,598 crore, 70,221 crore and 51,000 crore in the previous three years.

“The Indian military is large and will continue to import weapons and systems for some more years. The reduction in India's arms imports is an important achievement. “As indigenisation efforts succeed, imports will fall even further,” said Air Marshal Anil Chopra (retd), director general of the Centre for Air Power Studies.

The ranking system is dynamic because it is determined by how orders are placed in a given year. For example, according to the 2019 SIPRI report, India is no longer the world's largest importer of weapons, a position it has held for decades, with Saudi Arabia leading the global share of arms imports between 2014 and 2018. Saudi Arabia accounted for 12 per cent of global arms imports during that time period, with India coming in second with a 9.5 per cent share.

According to new SIPRI data, the United States has been the world's leading military exporter over the last five years, accounting for 40 per cent of global exports, followed by Russia (16 per cent), France (11 per cent), China (5.2 per cent), and Germany (4.2 per cent). Between 2013-17 and 2018-22, US arms exports increased by 14 per cent, while Russian exports decreased by 31 per cent. Russia's imports into India dropped by 37 per cent.

“It is likely that the invasion of Ukraine will further limit Russia's arms exports. This is because Russia will prioritise supplying its armed forces, while demand from other countries will remain low due to trade sanctions against Russia and increasing pressure from the United States and its allies not to buy Russian arms,” said Siemon T Wezeman, a senior researcher with the SIPRI Arms Transfers Programme.

On 3 March, Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan stated that one of the most important lessons for India from the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict is self-reliance in defence manufacturing and that the three services will have to be the driving force for the campaign to succeed.

“We cannot be reliant on foreign military supplies. In the last two to three years, we have taken some baby steps towards self-sufficiency. The government has launched a slew of initiatives to boost it. I believe that the three services will have to be the driving force for this campaign to succeed,” Chauhan said at the Raisina Dialogue.

According to Sipri, Ukraine was the third-largest importer of major arms in 2022 and the 14th-largest in 2018-22.

France's arms exports increased 44 per cent between 2013-17 and 2018-22, with India receiving 30 per cent of its exports over the last five years, according to the report, adding that France had surpassed the United States as India's second-largest supplier of arms after Russia.

“As Russian arms exports decline, as seen in India, France is gaining a larger share of the global arms market,” Wezeman said.