The five largest exporters of major arms in 2020-2024 were the US (43 per cent), France (9.6 per cent), Russia (7.8 per cent), China (5.9 per cent), and Germany (5.6 per cent).
India was overtaken by Ukraine as the world's largest importer of major arms in the period 2020-24, falling to second place with an 8.3 per cent share of global imports, compared to Ukraine's 8.8 per cent, according to new data on international arms transfers published on Monday by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri).
Ukraine became the world's largest importer of major arms in the period 2020-2024, with its imports increasing nearly 100 times compared to 2015-19, noted Sipri's Trends in International Arms Transfers, 2024 report.
This sharp increase is driven by the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, which began on February 24, 2022, and has continued for over three years.
The 2023 edition of the Sipri report had ranked India as the world's biggest arms importer in 2019-2023 with a 9.8 per cent share of all arms imports.
India's tensions with China and Pakistan largely drove its arms imports during the period, the report added.
However, it also observed that Indian arms imports decreased by 9.3 per cent between 2015-2019 and 2020-2024.
'The drop was at least partly the result of India's increasing ability to design and produce its own weapons, making it less reliant on imports,' said the report.
This comes amid the government's ongoing efforts to enhance Aatmanirbharta (self-reliance) in defence.
In 2023-2024, India's total defence production hit a record Rs 1.27 trillion. The 17.25 per cent growth in total production that year was a seven-year high.
Since 2020-2021, a sizeable share of the armed forces' capital acquisition budget has been allocated to domestic procurement.
For 2025-2026, Rs 1.115 trillion (75 per cent) of the Rs 1.49 trillion capital acquisition budget has been earmarked for domestic purchases.
The Sipri report noted that the largest share of India's imports came from Russia (36 per cent).
'However, this was a significantly smaller share than in 2015-2019 (55 per cent) and 2010-2014 (72 per cent).
'India is shifting its arms supply relations toward Western suppliers, most notably France, Israel, and the US,' added the report.
It also noted that most of India's new and planned orders for major arms will come from Western suppliers.
The five largest exporters of major arms in 2020-2024 were the US (43 per cent), France (9.6 per cent), Russia (7.8 per cent), China (5.9 per cent), and Germany (5.6 per cent), together accounting for just under three-quarters (72 per cent) of all arms exports.
'US and French arms exports rose between 2015-2019 and 2020-2024, while Russian, Chinese, and German arms exports fell,' said the report, adding that US arms exports grew by 21 per cent between 2015-19 and 2020-24.
While France became the world's second-largest arms supplier in 2020-24, Russia fell to third place.
Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff.com
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