According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) report published on March 15, 2021, the five largest arms exporters in 2016-20 were the US, Russia, France, Germany and China, while the top importers were Saudi Arabia, India, Egypt, Australia and China.
- The report says that India’s arms imports fell 33% between 2011-15 and 2016-20. The report attributed the drop in India’s arms imports mainly to an attempt to reduce its dependence on Russian arms (53% fall) and complex procurement processes.
- India’s top three arms suppliers during 2016-20 were Russia (accounting for 49% of India’s imports), France (18%) and Israel (13%).
- India accounted for 0.2% of the share of global arms exports during 2016-20, making the country the world’s 24th largest exporter of major arms.
- The export share represents an increase of 228% over India’s export share of 0.1% during the previous five-year period – 2011-15.
- Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Mauritius were the top recipients of Indian military hardware.
