New Delhi: India was the world’s second largest importer of arms and military hardware from 2021 to 2025 and the largest chunk of the imports came from Russia, Swedish think tank SIPRI said in a new report on Monday.
Ukraine which received 9.7 per cent of all arms transfers in 2021-25 was the world’s largest arms importer in that period, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said.
China dropped out of the top 10 arms importers for the first time since 1991-1995 due to expanded domestic production of its own designs, the think tank noted in its report, ‘Trends in International Arms Transfers’.
The United States supplied 42 per cent of all international arms transfers during 2021-25, up from 36 per cent in 2016-20, it said.
Four states in Asia and Oceania — India, Pakistan, Japan and Australia — ranked among the 10 largest arms importers globally in 2021-25.
The main supplier to the region in 2021-25 was the US, which accounted for 35 per cent of regional arms imports. Russia accounted for another 17 per cent and China for 14 per cent.
“India was the world’s second largest arms importer. Its imports decreased marginally (4 per cent) between 2016-20 and 2021-25,” the SIPRI said.
“The largest share of Indian arms imports came from Russia, at 40 per cent — a significantly smaller share than in 2016-20 (51 per cent) and almost half that in 2011-15 (70 per cent),” it said.
India is increasingly turning to Western suppliers, it said.
The report noted that Russia has remained India’s main supplier for military hardware. At the same time, it said India has been buying arms from France and Israel as well.
“Arms imports by Pakistan grew by 66 per cent between 2016-20 and 2021-25. China supplied 80 per cent of Pakistan’s arms imports in 2021-25, up from 73 per cent in 2016-20,” the report noted.
The US has further cemented its dominance as an arms supplier, even in an increasingly multipolar world, said Pieter Wezeman, Senior Researcher with the SIPRI Arms Transfers Programme.
For importers, US arms offer advanced capabilities and a way of fostering good relations, he said.
“While tensions and conflicts in Asia and Oceania and the Middle East continue to drive large-scale arms imports, the sharp increase in arms flows to European states pushed global arms transfers up almost 10 per cent,” said Mathew George, Director of the SIPRI Arms Transfers Programme.
Overall, the report said the volume of major arms transferred between states increased by 9.2 per cent between 2016-2020 and 2021-2025.
“States in Europe more than trebled their arms imports, making it the biggest recipient region. Total exports by the United States, the world’s largest supplier of arms, increased by 27 per cent. This included a 217 per cent increase in US arms exports to Europe,” it said.
