Key Highlights
- India accounted for 8.2% of all global arms imports between 2021 and 2025, making it the second‑largest purchaser worldwide.
- While France, Israel and the United States are gaining market share, Russia still supplied roughly four‑tenths of India’s imports.
- Overall import volumes fell about 4% compared with the 2016‑2020 period.
- Heightened tensions with China (LAC) and Pakistan (LoC) are the primary drivers of India’s procurement push.
- Domestic programmes such as ‘Make in India’ and ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ are expanding indigenous defence production.
Detailed Insights
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) released a comprehensive review of arms transfers for the five‑year window 2021‑2025. The analysis places India just behind one other nation in terms of total value of major weapons acquired, capturing 8.2 percent of worldwide spend. The surge in spending is largely attributed to a strategic imperative: modernising the Indian Armed Forces to counter a multifaceted security environment marked by persistent border frictions with China along the Line of Actual Control and with Pakistan along the Line of Control.
Although the overall import quantity contracted by roughly four percent relative to the preceding cycle (2016‑2020), the share of Russian‑origin systems continued to recede. Russia supplied about 70 percent of India’s imports in 2011‑2015, dropped to 51 percent in 2016‑2020, and fell further to 40 percent in the latest period. Concurrently, Western vendors—most notably France, Israel and the United States—have expanded their foothold, reflecting Delhi’s deliberate diversification strategy.
Parallel to these external purchases, India is nurturing a burgeoning domestic defence industrial base. Policies such as ‘Make in India’ and ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat in defence’ incentivise local design, fabrication and assembly of complex weaponry, aiming to reduce reliance on foreign sources over the long term.
Key Concepts
- Arms Transfer Reporting (SIPRI): An annual quantitative assessment of global weapons sales and deliveries compiled by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
- Line of Actual Control (LAC): The disputed frontier separating Indian and Chinese forces in the Himalayan region, a frequent flashpoint for military standoffs.
- Make in India: A government‑led initiative launched in 2014 to promote manufacturing within the country, including the defence sector.