India largest arms importer in world: SIPRI report
New Delhi: A recent report by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), a European think tank that monitors arms sales globally, has said that India is the largest arms importer in the world.
According to Kashmir Media Service, referring to the SIPRI report, the Indian media said Russia is the largest supplier of arms to India, from which India is getting 36 percent of its arms imports.
Now the total share of Russia in India’s imports is shrinking as India now relies on Western countries and domestic suppliers for military hardware and software.
According to the report, after Russia, France is India’s second largest supplier with a 33 percent share and the United States is third with a 13 percent share.
It is noteworthy that India’s imports accounted for 11 percent of global arms sales between 2018 and 2022.
The report said that in the period 2019-2023 there was a slight decline and it was 9.8 percent of global sales. While India is in a strategically weak position as the world’s largest arms importer, it remains the largest consumer of arms for France, Russia and Israel.
