India is the biggest buyer of arms in the world and imported nearly three times as many weapons as its nearest rivals China and Pakistan during last five years.
New Delhi, March 17/Nationalturk- A Swedish think tank Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) has revealed that India is the biggest buyer of arms in the world and imported nearly three times as many weapons as its nearest rivals China and Pakistan during last five years.
According to SIPRI, Indian imports of major weapons rose by 111 per cent in last five years compared. “Its share of total global arms imports increased from 7 to 14 per cent and total volume of arms sales was up 14 per cent in 2009-13 compared to the previous five years”.
India replaced China as the world’s biggest buyer of arms in 2010.
Russia was main supplier of arms to India in 2009-13 and accounted for 75 per cent of all imports. However, India has lately sought to diversify its weapons sources by procuring weapons from United States and other European countries.
India became biggest buyer of US weapons last year
According IHS Jane’s released in February, India became the biggest buyer of US weapons last year with total imports worth USD 1.9 billion. “The large-scale purchases included Boeing’s C-17A transport aircraft and P-8I Maritime Patrol Aircraft.”
According to SIPRI, India’s arch rival and nuclear foe Pakistan increased its weapons acquisitions by 119 per cent, growing from 2 per cent of the global total to 5 per cent during that period.
The world’s top five arms importers now were India, China, Pakistan, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
China replaces France as 4th largest exporter of arms
The United States and Russia were the main exporters, supplying more than half the world’s arms between 2009 and 2013.
The five largest arms suppliers worldwide between 2009 and 2013 were the United States (29 percent of global exports), Russia (27 percent), Germany (7 percent), China (6 percent) and France (5 percent). China has replaced France as the fourth-largest exporter with a six per cent share.
The volume of world arms transfers increased in the last five years by 14 per cent compared with 2004-2008.
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