India’s arms import declines 11% but remains the top importer among nations
India remained the world’s top arms importer, but its imports declined by 11 percent between 2013-17 and 2018-22, according to a report released on Monday by Stockholm-based defence think-tank SIPRI. The decline was linked to a complex procurement process, efforts to diversify arms suppliers, and attempts to replace imports with local designs, the report said. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said India, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Australia, and China were the five largest arms importers in the world during 2018-22.
The five largest arms exporters were the United States, Russia, France, China, and Germany. The imports by Pakistan, the world’s eighth-largest arms importer during 2018-22, increased by 14 percent, with China as its main supplier, the report said. The report also said France’s arms exports increased by 44 percent between 2013-17 and 2018-22 and most of these exports were to countries in Asia and Oceania and the Middle East.
The SIPRI report said India received 30 percent of France’s arms exports during 2018-22 and France displaced the US as the second-largest supplier of arms to India after Russia. “France is gaining a bigger share of the global arms market as Russian arms exports decline, as seen in India for example,” said Pieter D Wezeman, a senior researcher with the SIPRI Arms Transfers Programme. “This seems likely to continue as by the end of 2022, France had far more outstanding orders for arms exports than Russia,” he said.
The report compared two five-year periods and noted that Russian arms supplies to India are declining. It said the United States’ share of global arms exports increased from 33 to 40 percent, while Russia’s fell from 22 to 16 percent. “Even as arms transfers have declined globally, those to Europe have risen sharply due to the tensions between Russia and most other European states,” said Wezeman.
“Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, European states want to import more arms, faster. The strategic competition also continues elsewhere: arms imports to East Asia have increased and those to the Middle East remain at a high level,” he added. The report said three of the top 10 importers during 2018-22 were in the Middle East — Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Egypt.
Saudi Arabia was the world’s second-largest arms importer during 2018-22 and received 9.6 percent of all arms imports in the period, it said. Qatar’s arms imports increased by 311 percent between 2013-17 and 2018-22, making it the world’s third-biggest arms importer during 2018-22, it added.
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To develop design skills, prototype testing, construction is a major task & is not going to be built in a year i.e. articles to mention Make in India program is a failure….etc..
It will take 20-25 years to build an industry. Till then articles on India being importer will continue.