According to latest report of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) on global arms purchases, India continues to remain the world’s largest arms importer. India accounted for 14% of the global imports in the 2011-2015 timeframe.  India’s arms imports remain three times greater than those of its rivals China and Pakistan. Its biggest suppliers are Russia, the US, Israel and France.

After India, China ranks second in the global arms import list with 4.7%, followed by Australia (3.6%), Pakistan (3.3%), Vietnam (2.9%) and South Korea (2.6%). China used to top the imports chart earlier but has gradually built a stronger defence industrial base or DIB over the last couple of decades to even emerge as the world’s third largest arms exporter after the US and Russia.

While Pakistan remains the main recipient of Chinese weapons accounting for 35 per cent, a growing trend for India to watch out for is that Pakistan is followed by Bangladesh and Myanmar, accounting for 20 and 16 per cent respectively, all three being neighbours of India.

The report noted that a major reason for the high level of Indian imports is because India’s arms industry has so far largely failed to produce competitive indigenously designed weapons. While Russia maintains a strong lead as the top supplier, purchases from U.S. are sharply increasing.

China which has emerged as the world’s third largest arms exporter after U.S. and Russia has increased its exports of major arms by 88 per cent between 2006-2010 and 2011-2015 and concurrently China’s global share of arms exports rose from 3.6 to 5.9 per cent.