Ukraine Pips India As World’s Largest Arms Importer; US Dominates Push As Russia’s Exports Falls: SIPRI

 

 

Stockholm: Ukraine has overtaken India as the world’s largest importer of major arms in the period 2020–24, according to a report published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) Ukraine became the world’s largest importer, with its imports shooting nearly 100 times compared to 2015–19, SIPRI’s Trends in International Arms Transfers, 2024 report said. The report published on Monday shows India falling to second place with an 8.3 per cent share of global imports, compared to Ukraine’s 8.8 per cent.

 

The United States further increased its share of global arms exports to 43 per cent, while Russia’s exports fell by 64 per cent, according to new data. A major factor behind the sharp increase is the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, which began on February 24, 2022, and has continued for over three years. In 2023, the SIPRI report had ranked India as the world’s biggest arms importer in 2019–23 with a 9.8 per cent share of all arms imports. India’s tensions with China and Pakistan largely drove its arms imports during the period, the report added. However, it also observed that Indian arms imports decreased by 9.3 per cent between 2015–19 and 2020–24.

 

“The drop was at least partly the result of India’s increasing ability to design and produce its own weapons, making it less reliant on imports,” said the report. This comes amid the government’s ongoing efforts to enhance Aatmanirbharta (self-reliance) in defence. In 2023–24, India’s total defence production hit a record Rs 1.27 trillion. The 17.25 per cent growth in total production that year was a seven-year high. Since 2020–21, a sizeable share of the armed forces’ capital acquisition budget has been allocated to domestic procurement. For 2025–26, Rs 1.115 trillion (75 per cent) of the Rs 1.49 trillion capital acquisition budget has been earmarked for domestic purchases. The SIPRI report noted that the largest share of India’s imports came from Russia (36 per cent).

 

“However, this was a significantly smaller share than in 2015–19 (55 per cent) and 2010–14 (72 per cent). India is shifting its arms supply relations toward Western suppliers, most notably France, Israel, and the US,” added the report. It also noted that most of India’s new and planned orders for major arms will come from Western suppliers. The five largest exporters of major arms in 2020–24 were the US (43 per cent), France (9.6 per cent), Russia (7.8 per cent), China (5.9 per cent), and Germany (5.6 per cent), together accounting for just under three-quarters (72 per cent) of all arms exports.

 

“US and French arms exports rose between 2015–19 and 2020–24, while Russian, Chinese, and German arms exports fell,” said the report, adding that US arms exports grew by 21 per cent between 2015–19 and 2020–24. While France became the world’s second-largest arms supplier in 2020–24, Russia fell to third place, it said. Dip in Middle East arms imports Arms imports by states in the Middle East dropped by 20 per cent between 2015–19 and 2020–24. Four of the top 10 global importers in 2020–24 were in the Middle East: Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Kuwait. Qatar was the world’s third-largest arms importer in 2020–24 (up from 10th largest in 2015–19). Between 2015–19 and 2020–24, Saudi Arabia’s arms imports decreased by 41 per cent. More than half of arms imports to the Middle East came from the USA (52 per cent), while 13 per cent came from Italy, 9.8 per cent from France and 7.6 per cent from Germany. “Regional conflicts and tensions continue to drive demand for arms imports in the Middle East,” said Zain Hussain, Researcher with the SIPRI Arms Transfers Programme.

 

Insecurity and conflict fuel large increase in arms imports to West Africa Arms transfers to West Africa have been rising sharply in the past 15 years as the security situation has deteriorated, the report said. The combined arms imports of West African states almost doubled (+82 per cent) between 2010–14 and 2020–24. Nigeria accounted for by far the biggest share (34 per cent) of arms imports to West Africa in 2020–24. “The growth in arms imports to West Africa has been striking. While the volume of imports remains relatively small, it has important geopolitical implications,” said Katarina Djokic, Researcher with the SIPRI Arms Transfers Programme. “States like Burkina Faso, Mali and Senegal seem to be rapidly increasing their imports. Arms suppliers are using arms exports to boost their influence in this part of the world, including emerging suppliers—primarily Türkiye—alongside more established actors such as China, France, Russia and the USA.”