India’s arms imports fell 33% between 2011-15 and 2016-20, said a report released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) on Monday. Here is all you need to know about the report:
• It has come at a time the country has taken measures to cut dependence on imported military hardware.
• The report on international arms transfers attributed the drop in India’s arms imports mainly to an attempt to reduce its dependence on Russian arms and complex procurement processes.
• “Russia was the most affected supplier, although India’s imports of US arms also fell 46%,” the report said.
• It added India is planning large-scale arms imports in the coming years.
• India’s top three arms suppliers during 2016-20 were Russia (accounting for 49% of India’s imports), France (18%) and Israel (13%), the report said.
• According to Sipri, India accounted for 0.2% of the share of global arms exports during 2016-20, making the country the world’s 24th largest exporter of major arms.
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{{/usCountry}}• This represents an increase of 228% over India’s export share of 0.1% during the previous five-year period - 2011-15.
• Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Mauritius were the top recipients of Indian military hardware, the report said.
• Arms exports by Russia, which accounted for 20% of all exports of major arms in 2016–20, dropped by 22%, the report said.
• “The bulk -- around 90% -- of this decrease was attributable to a 53% fall in its arms exports to India,” Sipri said.
• India was the biggest importer of Russian military hardware during the last five years, accounting for 23% of Russia’s total exports.
• The report also said that exports by China, the world’s fifth-largest arms exporter in 2016-20, fell 7.8% between 2011-15 and 2016-20.
• China accounted for 74% of Pakistan’s military imports during the last five years, up from 61% in 2011-15.
• But the US, the world’s largest arms exporter, saw its exports rise. Its global share of arms exports went up from 32% to 37% between 2011-15 and 2016-20.
• The five largest arms exporters in 2016-20 were the US, Russia, France, Germany and China, while the top importers were Saudi Arabia, India, Egypt, Australia and China.
• India has set aside ₹70,221 crore - 63% of the military’s capital budget for 2021-22 - for buying locally produced weapons and systems to boost defence indigenisation.
• Sipri said India’s military imports are likely to grow over the next five years.