Sign In
Learn bits
Defence & Security, Index & Reports
Mahesh

13/03/24 08:19 AM IST

India world’s top arms importer between 2019-23: SIPRI

In News
  • India was the world’s top arms importer for the period 2019-23 with imports having gone up by 4.7% compared to the period 2014-18.
Major Highlights
  • Although Russia remained India’s main arms supplier [accounting for 36% of its arms imports], this was the first five-year period since 1960–64 when deliveries from Russia [or the Soviet Union prior to 1991] made up less than half of India’s arms imports.
  • Nine of the 10 biggest arms importers in 2019–23, including the top 3 of India, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, were in Asia and Oceania or the Middle East.
  • Ukraine became the fourth biggest arms importer globally after it received transfers of major arms from over 30 states in 2022-23.Imports of Pakistan, the fifth largest arms importer in 2019–23, went up by 43%, with China supplying as much as 82% of all its arms imports.
  • Arms exports of the world’s largest supplier, U.S. grew by 17% between 2014–18 and 2019–23, while those by Russia fell by more than half, -53%.
  • At the same time, France emerged as the world’s second largest arms supplier as its exports grew by 47%.
  • Among the top 10 arms exporters, five of them saw decrease between the two five-year periods: China (-5.3%), Germany (-14%), U.K. (-14%), Spain (-3.3%) and Israel (-25%).
  • Over half of arms imports by European countries, 55%, in 2019–23 were from the U.S., up from 35% in 2014–18. “More than half of arms imports by European states come from the U.S.A.
  • On France, which is now the second largest arms supplier, the report said 42% of its arms went to states in Asia and Oceania, and another 34% to the Middle East.
  • The largest single recipient of French arms exports was India, which accounted for nearly 30%. The increase in French arms exports was largely due to deliveries of combat aircraft to India, Qatar and Egypt.
  • With many high-value arms on order — including nearly 800 combat aircraft and combat helicopters — European arms imports are likely to remain at a high level.
Source- The Hindu

More Related Current Affairs View All

05 Mar

First-ever comprehensive survey of India’s river dolphins

'Prime Minister Narendra Modi released the results of the first-ever comprehensive population estimation of riverine dolphins – Gangetic and Indus dolphins – done in In

Read More

05 Mar

Arresting women at night

'The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court in Deepa versus S. Vijayalakshmi and Others ruled that the legal provision in the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023, which

Read More

05 Mar

Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023

'The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) looking to wrap up public consultations on the draft Rules for the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 by Mar

Read More

India’s First Ai-Driven Magazine Generator

Generate Your Custom Current Affairs Magazine using our AI in just 3 steps