NEW DELHI: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) has reported that India remains the world’s second-largest arms importer after Ukraine, and the only major economy importing weapons on such a scale.
According to the think tank, Russia, France and Israel remain India’s top arms suppliers, accounting for 40 per cent, 29 per cent and 15 per cent of its imports respectively.
Data from SIPRI show that India accounted for 8.3 per cent of global arms imports between 2021 and 2025, placing it second worldwide. Ukraine, currently engaged in a war with Russia, topped the list with a 9.7 per cent share during the same period.
The findings, released on Monday in SIPRI’s report Trends in International Arms Transfers, 2025, also indicate a modest reduction in India’s reliance on imported weapons. Comparing the previous five-year period of 2016–2020 with 2021–2025, the report noted that Indian arms imports declined by 4 per cent.
The report attributes the decline partly to India’s growing ability to design and manufacture its own weapons systems, although domestic programmes often face significant delays.
“Indian arms imports fell by 4.0 per cent between 2016–20 and 2021–25. The decrease can be partly attributed to India’s growing ability to design and produce its own weapons, although there are often substantial delays in domestic production,” the report said.
However, SIPRI noted that India continues to rely heavily on foreign suppliers for several key military platforms.
“India’s recent or planned orders, including up to 140 combat aircraft from France and six submarines from Germany, indicate its continued and probably increasing reliance on foreign suppliers,” the report said.
Over the past decade, India has also diversified its defence procurement sources, gradually reducing dependence on Russia while increasing purchases from Western partners such as France, Israel and the United States.
“Russia’s share of Indian arms imports fell from 70 per cent in 2011–15 to 51 per cent in 2016–20, and further to 40 per cent in 2021–25,” SIPRI said.
According to SIPRI, India’s continued procurement of foreign military hardware is largely shaped by its security competition with China and Pakistan.
“India was the world’s second-largest recipient of major arms in 2021–25 with an 8.2 per cent share of total global arms imports. Its arms imports are driven by tensions with both China and Pakistan. These tensions have regularly led to armed conflict, as they did briefly between India and Pakistan in May 2025, with both sides using imported major arms,” the report said.
Pakistan emerged as the fifth-largest importer of major arms worldwide during 2021–25, rising sharply from tenth place in 2016–20. Its arms acquisitions increased by 66 per cent between the two periods and accounted for 4.2 per cent of global imports.
China continued to dominate as Pakistan’s principal defence supplier, providing 80 per cent of the weapons it imported in 2021–25, up from 73 per cent in the previous five-year period.
SIPRI also noted that although China exported major weapons systems to 47 countries during this period, a significant share was concentrated in Pakistan.
“Although China supplied major arms to 47 states during the period, 61 per cent of its arms exports went to just one country, Pakistan,” the report said.