Seeking self-sufficiency, India remains the world’s second-largest weapons importer
While military imports fell by 9 per cent thanks to the growth of local industry, India remains the second buyer after Ukraine with Russia as its main supplier. Now it is increasingly looking to France, Israel and the United States, and building up domestic capacity.
New Delhi (AsiaNews) – India’s Ministry of Defence is seeking approval to speed up foreign military acquisitions (from two years to six months), the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, cleared a new deal for domestic weapon production, part of the government’s plan to make India militarily self-sufficient.
India is currently the world's second-largest buyer of heavy weapons after Ukraine, with an 8.3 per cent share of total imports, this according to the latest study by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). Among the largest importers are Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.
While the surge in imports for Ukraine is linked to the war with Russia, Indian imports dropped by 9.3 per cent, compared to 2015-2019, mainly thanks to the growth of domestic production.
Relations between India and Russia continue to be generally good, but SIPRI noted a clear shift towards Western suppliers in the most recent contracts.
Russia remains the main partner, but the percentage of its exports to India has declined: from 72 per cent in 2010-14 to 55 per cent in 2015-2019 and 36-38 per cent in 2020-2024.
This follows India’s decision to diversify supplies, and boosting imports from France, Israel and the United States, as well as South Korea and South Africa.
In the case of France, key contracts include the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets and six Scorpene-class submarines, with the option of 26 Rafale-M jets and three other submarines.
While “The new arms transfers figures clearly reflect the rearmament taking place among states in Europe in response to the threat from Russia,” said Mathew George, programme director at SIPRI, interesting trends can also be observed across Asia. “Some major arms importers, including Saudi Arabia, India and China, saw large declines in import volumes for a variety of reasons, despite high threat perceptions in their regions,” he added.
For the first time, China has dropped out of the list of top ten largest importers since 1990-1994, thanks to the expansion of its domestic defence industry, while Pakistan has seen a 61 per cent increase in its imports, mostly from its ally China.
Today, India, Pakistan, Japan and Australia together absorb 33 per cent of global imports, followed by Europe (28 per cent), Western Asia (27 per cent), the Americas (6.2 per cent) and Africa (4.5 per cent).
Despite progress in local industry and export agreements, India is still not among the world's top 25 arms exporters. Last month, the Indian government organised Aero India, a trade show dedicated to the latest military and aerospace technologies attended by 900 exhibitors from 90 countries along with defence ministers from more than 30 nations.
“While 65-70% of defence equipment was imported a decade ago, today almost the same percentage of weapons/platforms are being manufactured on the Indian soil,” said Defence Minister Rajnath Singh at the valedictory event of Aero India 2025.
To achieve self-sufficiency (Aatmanirbharta), the Indian government has taken several steps in recent years, including imposing gradual import bans on certain types of weapons and systems, creating a separate budget for the purchase of locally produced military hardware, and increasing foreign direct investment from 49 per cent to 74 per cent.
According to military analyst Ajai Shukla, the United States and Russia are now vying to supply more than 100 medium-sized fighters to the Indian Air Force.
For the expert, India can only afford a modest arsenal, even though this year’s annual budget saw a request for 6,812 billion rupees (US$ 78.4 billion) to be allocated to defence, equal to 1.91 per cent of GDP, which is more than for rural development (2,668 billion rupees), urban development (967.77 billion rupees), health care (983.11 billion rupees), education (1,286 billion rupees), and energy (811.74 billion rupees).
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07/10/2022 19:03
