New Delhi: India’s arms imports fell 33 % between 2011-15 and 2016-20, said a report released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) on Monday, at a time the country has taken a raft of measures to cut dependence on imported military hardware.
The report on international arms transfers attributed the drop in India’s arms imports mainly to an attempt to reduce its dependence on Russian arms and complex procurement processes.
In the last few years, India has taken a series of measures to boost domestic defence industry with an aim to reduce dependence on imported military platforms and hardware.
In reply to a question in Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Defence Shripad Naik said approval (Acceptance of Necessity) was given to 112 proposals between 2018-19 and 2020-21 (till December) worth around Rs 1.99 lakh crore under various categories of capital acquisition to promote the domestic defence manufacturing.
The government has been majorly focusing on boosting domestic defence production and set a target of Rs 1.75 lakh crore (USD 25 billion) turnover in defence manufacturing by 2025.
China, the world’s fifth largest arms exporter in 2016–20, decreased by 7.8 per cent between 2011–15 and 2016–20. Chinese arms exports accounted for 5.2 per cent of total arms exports in 2016–20. Pakistan, Bangladesh and Algeria were the largest recipients of Chinese arms.
The SIPRI said the US remained the largest arms exporter, increasing its global share of arms exports from 32 to 37 per cent between 2011–15 and 2016–20, adding it supplied major arms to 96 states in 2016–20, far more than any other supplier.