India saw 11% dip in defence imports between 2013-17 and 2018-22 due to Atmanirbhar Bharat: Think Tank Report

Amid border conflicts against Pakistan and China, India saw an 11% dip in defence imports between 2013-17 and 2018-22 due to India’s "Atmanirbhar Bharat" scheme.

 

According to a report released by the Sweden-based think-tank Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), "India’s tensions with Pakistan and China largely drive its demand for arms imports. India remains the world’s top arms importer, but its arms imports declined by 11 per cent between 2013–17 and 2018–22. This decline was linked to a complex procurement process, efforts to diversify arms suppliers and attempts to replace imports with local designs".

 

"The decrease can be attributed to several factors including India’s slow and complex arms procurement process, efforts to diversify its arms suppliers, and attempts to replace imports with major arms that are designed and produced domestically," the SIPRI report stated.

 

The last report had showed a 21% dip in defence imports. "Between 2012-16 and 2017-21, Indian arms imports decreased by 21%. Despite this, India was the world’s largest importer of major arms in 2017–21 and accounted for 11% of total global arms imports in the period," the report released last year had said.

 

Apart from this, Exports to India, the largest recipient of Russian arms, fell by 37 per cent, while exports to the other 7 decreased by an average of 59 per cent.

 

Meanwhile, India received 30 per cent of France’s arms exports in 2018–22, and France displaced the USA as the second largest supplier of arms to India after Russia.

 

‘France is gaining a bigger share of the global arms market as Russian arms exports decline, as seen in India, for example,’ said Pieter D. Wezeman, Senior Researcher with the SIPRI Arms Transfers Programme. ‘This seems likely to continue, as by the end of 2022, France had far more outstanding orders for arms exports than Russia.’