According to the institute’s experts, India has maintained its leading position, even though its arms imports have decreased by 11% between 2013-2017 and 2018-2022. According to them, such a drop is explained by the complexity of the supply process of the Indian side, as well as the peculiarities of the state policy of supplier diversification. In addition, the situation is influenced by the state’s efforts to produce arms domestically, due to the desire to reduce dependence on imports.
“India was the world’s largest importer of major arms in 2018-2022 with a share of 11% of total global arms imports. The country held the same positions during the period 1993-2022,” indicates the report.
SIPRI experts say that Russia remains the largest arms exporter to India, despite the fact that the Russian Federation’s share has decreased in 2018-2022.
“Russia was India’s largest arms supplier in 2013-2017 and 2018-2022, but its share of total Indian arms imports fell from 64% to 45%,” the document said.
According to analysts, several factors influence the decline in arms imports from the Russian Federation. In particular, these circumstances include strong competition from other supplier countries, increased arms production in India, as well as “Russian arms export restrictions from 2022”.
In turn, the report claims that Indian arms imports from France, which previously stood at 62 fighter jets and 4 submarines, increased by 489% by the end of 2022.
“Thus, France overtook the United States in terms of arms supplies and came second in terms of exports to India in 2018-2022,” the report said.
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) report is titled “Trends in International Arms Transfers 2022”. The document compares two five-year periods – between 2013-2017 and 2018-2022.
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