NEW DELHI, Mar 13 India remains the largest importer of major species of weapons in the world, and its main supplier is still Russia, according to a report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
A report released on Monday entitled «Trends in International Arms Transfers 2022» compares two five-year blocks between 2013-17 and 2018-2022.
«With a share of 11% of total global arms imports, India was the world's largest importer of major weapons in 2018-22, a position it held in the period 1993-2022. It maintained this position even though its arms imports decreased by 11% between 2013-17 and 2018-22,» the report said.
Analysts at the center attribute the decline in imports to India's complicated arms procurement process, the country's efforts to diversify suppliers, and attempts to replace imports with domestically designed and manufactured weapons.
Russia remains the largest arms exporter to India, but its share in 2018-2022 decreased compared to the previous period, analysts say.
«Russia was India's largest arms supplier in both 2013-17 and 2018-22, but its share of total Indian arms imports has declined from 64% to 45%. Russia's position as India's main arms supplier is under pressure from — for strong competition from other supplier states, an increase in the production of weapons in India and, starting in 2022, … restrictions on the export of weapons by Russia,» the report says.
At the same time, India's arms imports from France, which included 62 combat aircraft and 4 submarines, increased by 489% between 2013-17 and 2018-22.
«Thus, France displaced the US and became the second largest supplier to India in 2018-22,» the report says.
Analysts at the center also noted that Pakistan's arms imports increased by 14% between 2013-17 and 2018-22 and accounted for 3.7% of the global volume.
«In 2018-22, China supplied more than three-quarters (77%) of Pakistani arms imports,» the report says.