Why in news?  According to SIPRI report India remains world’s largest importer of arms. 

Highlights:

• The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) reported the five largest arms importers in the world during 2018-22.they were India, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Australia and China.
• The five largest arms exporters were the United States, Russia, France, China and Germany.

About India

• India remained the world’s largest arms importer for the five-year period between 2018 and 2022 even though its arms imports dropped by 11% between 2013-2017 and 2018-2022.
• Russia was the largest supplier of arms to India from 2013 to 2022, but its share of total imports fell from 64% to 45% while France is the second largest supplier and followed by US
• Two thirds of Russian exports went to three states from 2018 to 2022 —India (31%), China (23%) and Egypt (9.3%).
• India was also the largest recipient of Russian arms from 2013 to 2017, but exports decreased by 37% between the two periods.
• India was the third largest arms supplier to Myanmar after Russia and China accounting for 14% of its imports.
• As per latest SIPRI data, among the top 10 arms exporters for the period 2018 to 2022, 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.

India and Global Scenario

• The report said India’s tensions with Pakistan and China largely drive its demand for arms imports.
• The decline of exports was linked to a complex procurement process, efforts to diversify arms suppliers and attempts to replace imports with local designs
• Russia’s position as India’s main arms supplier is under pressure due to strong competition from other supplier states, increased Indian arms production and, since 2022, also the impact of war in Ukraine
• France displaced the U.S. to become the second largest supplier to India in 2018 to 2022 due to acquiring of combat aircraft and submarines.