India is largest arms importer in the world….Rajat Pandit
New Delhi: Indias emergence as one of the largest arms importers over the last several years has got one more stamp of validation,with a Swedish think-tank holding that it has overtaken even China in this regard.
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI),in its report to be released on Monday,said India accounted for 9% of all international arms imports between 2006-2010,making it the worlds largest weapons importer.
China was relegated to second place,notching 6% of global arms imports,Siemon Wezeman of SIPRI told international news agencies.The US remains the largest arms exporter,followed by Russia and Germany,as per the report.
This is not the first time that India has topped such an international list.
FULLY LOADED
– India accounted for 9% of all global arms imports in 2006-2010,while China was No.2 with 6%
– India has signed arms deals worth $50 bn since the 1999 Kargil conflict
– Several mega deals in pipeline,including $10.4 bn project to acquire 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft
– Joint Indo-Russian project to develop Sukhoi T-50 fifth-gen fighters will see India spend over $35 bn
China hides more than it reveals
New Delhi: As reported by TOI erlier,US Congressional Research Services reports on conventional arms transfers placed India right at the top in 2004 and 2005,with agreements worth $5.7 billion and $5.4 billion respectively.China,however,hides more than what it reveals.Beijings military expenditure figures as well as its acquisition of advanced weapon systems and platforms remain shrouded behind a thick iron curtain,which global monitors cannot penetrate easily.
Unlike India,China has rapidly built a robust domestic defence-industrial base (DIB) over the last couple of decades,which often also revels in reverse-engineering top-of-the-line weapon systems developed by other countries.
China does spend staggering amounts in importing weapons from countries like Russia,often displacing even India as Russias largest defence customer, said an Indian defence official.
If Indias defence budget for the coming fiscal is pegged at $36 billion, China is officially going to spend $91.5 billion. Experts, however, reckon that it will spend almost twice the amount on its 2.5-million strong Peoples Liberation Army. But all this does not take away from the fact that India has certainly cranked up the modernization of its armed forces since the 1999 Kargil conflict, inking arms deals worth over $50 billion since then, the majority of them with foreign armament majors from Russia, Israel, France, the UK and now, increasingly the US, as tracked by TOI. With limited private sector participation, coupled with DRDO, eight defence PSUs and 39 ordnance factories largely failing to deliver, India remains saddled with a poor DIB.So, with the armed forces continuing to import 70% of their requirements from abroad, India will remain a big time arms importer for the foreseeable future.
There are several mega defence projects in the pipeline,which will see tie-ups with foreign companies for technology transfer for indigenous production.
The gigantic $10.4 billion project to acquire 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft,for instance,is in the final lap now.