ARMS IMPORT - DEFENCE AND SECURITY
News: India
remains biggest arms importer between 2018-22 despite drop in overall imports
What's in the news?
● India remained the
world’s largest arms importer for the five-year period
between 2018-22 even though its arms imports dropped by 11% between 2013–17 and
2018–22, according to the Swedish Think Tank Stockholm International Peace
Research Institute (SIPRI).
Key takeaways:
● Russia was the largest
supplier of arms to India in both 2013–17 and
2018–22, but its share of total Indian arms imports fell from 64% to 45% while
France emerged as the second largest supplier between 2018-22.
Findings of the SIPRI Report:
● As
per latest SIPRI data, among the top 10 arms exporters for the period 2018-22, India was the biggest arms export market to
three countries - Russia, France and Israel and the second largest export
market to South Korea.
● India
was also the third largest market for South Africa which was ranked 21 in the
list of arms exporters.
● For
the period 2018-22, India remained the largest arms importer followed by Saudi
Arabia. Russia accounted for 45% of India's imports followed by France (29%)
and the US (11%).
● India
was the third largest arms supplier to Myanmar
after Russia and China accounting for 14% of its imports.
● Just
under two thirds of Russian arms exports went to three states in 2018–22 -
India (31%), China (23%) and Egypt (9.3%).
● The
arms imports by Pakistan increased
by 14% between 2013–17 and 2018–22 and accounted for 3.7% of the global total
with China supplying 77% of Pakistan’s arms imports in 2018–22.
● Overall,
the U.S. share of global arms
exports increased from 33% to 40% while Russia’s fell from 22% to 16%.
Need for arms in India:
● India’s tensions with
Pakistan and China largely drive its demand
for arms imports.
● With
an 11% share of total global arms imports, India was the world’s biggest
importer of major arms in 2018–22, a position it has held for the period
1993–2022.