Mukesh Kumar
A C-17 Globemaster, imported from the U.S., in the Indian Air Force.Credit: Indian Air Force
In March 2024, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) released its annual report on international arms transfers for 2023. SIPRI’s much-anticipated lists of exporters and importers raised a serious question about India’s big claims about its growing military-industrial complex.
According to data from the government, India’s arms export for fiscal year 2023-24 reached to 210.8 billion rupees (around $2.5 billion), an increase of 32.5 percent from 159.0 billion rupees in FY2022-23. According to SIPRI’s 2021 report, India had entered the club of the top 25 arms exporters, reaching 23rd position. The success in arms exports fueled India’s expectation to cut its foreign dependence while promoting the domestic arms industry to fulfill the military needs of the Indian armed forces and friendly foreign countries.
Despite the surge in arms exports, however, India dropped back out of the list of top 25 arms exporters in SIPRI’s 2022 report and remained out of the group in 2023 as well.
Meanwhile, India still retained its position as the top arms importer, sharing 9.8 percent of the overall imports between 2019 and 2023. Moreover, India’s imports actually grew by 4.7 percent between 2014-18 and 2019-23.
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