New Delhi: From being the topper, India has emerged as the world’s second-largest arms importer in 2024, with an 8.3 percent share of global imports, according to a new report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
Showing a clear signal that it is heavily diversifying, Indian dependence on Russia has come down in favour of suppliers from the United States, France and Israel.
Replacing India as the top most importer is the war-torn Ukraine.
The report shows that Indian arms imports decreased by 9.3 percent between 2015–2019 and 2020–2024 “partly” because of its increasing ability to design and produce weapons, which made it less reliant on imports.
“Despite recent public declarations from the two sides that relations between India and Russia remain friendly, the shift is also visible in India’s new and planned orders for major arms, most of which will come from Western suppliers,” the report stated.
SIPRI identified 162 importer countries of major arms in 2020–2024, with countries in Asia and Oceania accounting for 33 percent of all arms imports, followed by Europe at 28 percent, the Middle East with 27 percent, the Americas with 6.2 percent, and Africa with 4.5 percent.
The top five arms importers—Ukraine, India, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan—accounted for 35 percent of global arms purchases during the period.
Ukraine became the world’s largest arms importer, accounting for 8.8 percent of global imports, as nations supplied it with arms—mostly as aid—following Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
“Four of the world’s 10 largest arms importers in the period were in Asia and Oceania: India, Pakistan, Japan, and Australia. The main suppliers to the region were the USA (accounting for 37 percent of regional arms imports), Russia (17 percent), and China (14 percent),” according to the report.
China dropped out of the top 10 arms importers for the first time since 1990–94.
While India has been trying to manufacture locally and has manged to strike export deals, it didn’t figure in the top 25 major arms exporting countries in 2020-2024.
The US, France, Russia, China and Germany were the world’s largest arms exporters from 2020 to 2024. The US arms exports rose by 21 percent compared to the previous five-year period (2015–19), while Russia’s exports plummeted by 64 percent. France’s arms exports increased by 11 percent.
Russia remained India’s largest supplier, accounting for 38 percent of imports, but this was sharply down from 55 percent in 2015-19 and 72 percent in 2010-14.
According to the data, India’s dependence on Russia reduced by 64 percent between 2015-2019 and 2020-2024 as it shifted its arms supply relations towards Western suppliers, most notably France, Israel and the US.
Interestingly, while India was Russia’s largest buyer, China was its second-largest, sourcing 17 percent of its global arms imports from Russia.
India was also the largest importer of arms from France and Israel, with French imports standing at 28 percent and imports from Israel at 34 percent. India does not figure among the top three arms importers from the US.
However, India’s arms dependence on France went up by 11 percent between 2015-2019 and 2020-2024 while its reliance on Israel declined by 2 percent. India was also the third-largest importer from South Korea and South Africa, with shares of 7 percent and 11 percent, respectively.
China, India and Pakistan were Ukraine’s largest arms importers. Chinese imports from the war-torn country stood at a whopping 67 percent, Indian imports stood at 15 percent, and Pakistan’s share stood at 5.3 percent. These countries import a large number of gas turbines from Ukraine, which is the main supplier of their navies.
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)
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