Russia’s share in arms imports to India fell from 69% in 2012-17 to 46% in 2017-21: Report
Highlight
- The share of Russia in arms imports to India fell from 69 per cent in 2012-17 to 46 per cent in 2017-21.
- Russia started the war against Ukraine on 24 February.
- This prompted the US and other Western countries to impose extremely harsh economic sanctions on Russia.
According to a report released by Stockholm-based defense think-tank SIPRI on Monday, Russia’s share in arms imports to India fell from 69 per cent in 2012-17 to 46 per cent in 2017-21. Russia launched a war against Ukraine on 24 February, causing the US and other Western countries to impose extremely harsh economic sanctions on the country.
“Indian arms imports decreased by 21 percent between 2012-16 and 2017-21. Despite this, India was the world’s largest importer of major arms in 2017-21 and accounted for 11 percent of total global arms imports in the period was part.” Report noted.
Russia was the largest supplier of major arms to India in both 2012-16 and 2017-21, but India’s Russian arms imports declined by 47 percent between the two periods due to the closure of several major programs for Russian weapons. , as stated in the report. Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
This, along with India’s increasing efforts to diversify its arms supplier base, meant that Russia’s share in total Indian arms imports fell from 69 per cent to 46 per cent, it noted. In contrast, India’s arms imports from France increased by more than ten-fold, making it India’s second largest arms supplier in 2017-21.
Due to perceived growing threats from China and Pakistan and significant delays in production of its own major weapons, India has massive plans for arms imports, it noted. “The decline in India’s arms imports is, therefore, probably a temporary result of its slow and complicated procurement process as well as its change in suppliers,” it noted.
Globally, Russia’s arms exports declined by 26 percent between 2012-16 and 2017-21, and its share in global arms exports declined from 24 percent to 19 percent. In 2017-21, Russia gave large arms to 45 states.
Unlike the United States, Russia’s exports were more concentrated in 2017-21 as four states—India, China, Egypt and Algeria—received 73 percent of total Russian arms exports, it noted.
“The overall decline in Russian arms exports between 2012-16 and 2017-21 was almost entirely due to a decrease in arms exports to India (-47 per cent) and Vietnam (-71 per cent),” it noted.
While several arms export contracts signed over the past 10 years were completed by the end of 2021, deliveries of several large Russian weapons are still pending and include eight air defense systems, four frigates and a nuclear-powered submarine. ,
Substantial increases in Russia’s arms exports to China (60 percent) and Egypt (723 percent) – the second and third largest recipients of Russian weapons, respectively – did not offset the overall decrease in its arms exports, it noted. In 2017-21, both China and Egypt received air defense systems and fighter aircraft from Russia, it said.
“SIPRI has identified 163 states as major arms importers in 2017-21. The top 5 arms importers—India, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Australia and China—represented 38 percent of total global arms imports in 2017-21 Received.” noted.
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