India 2nd Largest Importer: SIPRI

India remains the world’s second largest arms importer behind Ukraine “reflecting perceived threats from both China and Pakistan,” said the report on international arms transfers. Earlier, India was the world’s largest arms importer.

The report shows India is now buying fewer weapons from Russia than it was a decade ago, though Moscow remains the principal supplier of military hardware to the country. “The largest share of Indian arms imports (36%) came from Russia, a significantly smaller share than in 2015–19 (55%) and 2010–14 (72%),” the report said.

Self reliance: The drop in India’s arms imports comes on the heels of the country recording its highest ever growth in the value of local defence production in the financial year 2024-25 on the back of enabling policy measures, with the figure crossing ₹1.27 lakh crore mark and poised to exceed ₹1.6 lakh crore in 2025-26.

India has taken measures to boost self-reliance in the defence manufacturing sector during recent years. These include imposing phased import bans on different types of weapons, systems, ammunition, and critical sub-systems and components, creating a separate budget for buying locally made military hardware, increasing foreign direct investment (FDI) from 49% to 74% and improving ease of doing business.

Budget allocation: On February 1, India set aside more than ₹6.81 lakh crore for defence spending in the Union Budget, including ₹1.8 lakh crore for the modernisation of the military at a time when its shopping list encompasses fighter jets, helicopters, warships, submarines, tanks, artillery guns, drones, rockets and missiles.

In all, 75% of the modernisation outlay will be spent on buying weapons and equipment from domestic sources to boost self-reliance in the defence manufacturing sector. Last year, too, the government earmarked 75% of the capital allocation for local procurement.

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