“India was the world’s largest importer of major arms from 2012-2016, accounting for 13% of the global total.
“Between 2007-2011 and 2012-2016, it increased its arms imports by 43%.
“In 2012-2016, India’s imports were far greater than those of its regional rivals China and Pakistan,” the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) said in a report.
The Middle East region accounted for 29% of global arms imports from 2012-2016, recording a growth of 86% between the five-year periods of 2007-2011 and 2012-2016.
Saudi Arabia ranked as the world’s second largest arms importer from 2012-2016, with an increase of 212%.
Imports by countries in Southeast Asia increased 6.2%, with Vietnam in particular hiking its imports significantly from 2012-2016.
The United States, Russia, China, France and Germany are the world’s top five arms traders, accounting for 74% of total sales.
The volume of global transfers of major weapons has grown continuously since 2004 and increased by 8.4% between the two five-year cycles, Sipri said.
The think tank noted that arms trade from 2012-2016 reached its highest volume for any five-year period since the end of the Cold War.
Siemon Wezeman, a senior researcher with Sipri, said while China is increasingly able to substitute arms imports with indigenous products, India remains dependent on weapons technology from countries such as Russia, the US, European states, Israel and South Korea.
The US was the top arms exporter with a one-third share in global sales. Almost half of its weapons were supplied to the Middle East.
Russia’s share was 23% in the 2012–2016 period. Seventy percent of its arms were bought by India, Vietnam, China and Algeria.
China increased its arms exports from 3.8% to 6.2% between 2007–2011 and 2012–2016.