• According to Swedish think tank  Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s (SIPRI) Trends in International Arms Transfers 2024 report, India was the top arms importer in the world in the period 2019-23, with imports having gone up by 4.7% compared with the period 2014-18.

Background

• In the interim Budget presented in February for financial year 2024-25, the total allocation for the Defence Ministry was ₹6.2 lakh crore, of which the capital allocation for new procurements was ₹1.72 lakh crore, 5.78% higher than the Budget Estimates of last year.

Major Highlights of Report in Context to India

• In 2019-2023 with a 9.8% share in global imports, India is ranked at 1st position and emerged as the world's top arms importer in 2019-2023.
• Russia remained India’s main arms supplier (accounting for 36 per cent of its arms imports), this was the first five-year period since 1960–64 when deliveries from Russia (or the Soviet Union prior to 1991) made up less than half of India’s arms imports.
• Neighbouring country Pakistan was the fifth largest arms importer in 2019–23 and China became even more dominant as its main supplier, providing 82 per cent of its arms imports.
• China’s own arms imports shrank by 44 per cent, mainly as a result of substituting imported arms—most of which came from Russia—with locally produced systems.

Global Perspective

• Thirty per cent of international arms transfers went to the Middle East in 2019–23. Three Middle Eastern states were among the top 10 importers in 2019–23: Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt.
• Saudi Arabia was the world’s second largest arms importer in 2019–23, receiving 8.4 per cent of global arms imports in the period.
• Arms imports by European states were 94 per cent higher in 2019–23 than in 2014–18. Ukraine emerged as the largest European arms importer in 2019–23 and the fourth largest in the world, after at least 30 states supplied major arms as military aid to Ukraine from February 2022.
• The USA’s arms exports grew by 17 per cent between 2014–18 and 2019–23, and its share of total global arms exports rose from 34 per cent to 42 per cent.
• In European Countries France is largest Arms exporter and its exports increased by 47 per cent between 2014–18 and 2019–23 and for the first time it was the second biggest arms exporter, just ahead of Russia.

About SIPRI

• Established in 1966, SIPRI is a Swedish think tank that conducts research on conflict, armaments, and arms control.  
• Its headquarters are located in Stockholm.