Sipri Report: India Retains Top Spot as Global Arms Importer from 2018–2022

Data released by the think tank that tracks weapons imports over five-year periods indicates that India holds the largest share of global arms imports at 11% – the highest in the last five years. Following India, the countries with the next highest shares of global arms imports are Saudi Arabia at 9.6%, Qatar at 6.4%, Australia at 4.7%, and China at 4.7%.

The most recent report is consistent with last year's findings by Sipri, which stated that India's arms imports declined by 21% from 2012–16 to 2017–21. Despite this decrease, India remained the largest global arms importer. The newly released report cited reasons for the decline in India's arms imports as efforts to substitute foreign imports with domestic production and a complicated procurement process.

Over the past four to five years, India has implemented several measures aimed at enhancing self-sufficiency in defence. Among these measures are the establishment of a dedicated budget for procuring domestically produced military hardware, a rise in foreign direct investment from 49% to 74%, and the identification of numerous weapons and systems that are not eligible for importation and are targeted for indigenisation within the next five to six years.

This year's defence budget allocated approximately ₹1 trillion for domestic procurement, in contrast to ₹84,598 crore, ₹70,221 crore, and ₹51,000 crore in the preceding three years.

Air Marshal Anil Chopra (retired), Director General, Centre for Air Power Studies said, ‘The Indian military is large and will continue to import weapons and systems for some more years. The decline in India’s arms import is a significant achievement. Imports will drop further as indigenisation efforts succeed.’