- Friday, February 28, 2025
India bought weapons worth over $60b in the last two decades, of which 65% or nearly $39b came from Russia, said Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
By: Shubham Ghosh
WHILE India has focused on making multi-billion-dollar purchases of American arms, they are more about making its own domestic weapons industry robust rather than tilting towards the West instead of its time-tested ally Russia in terms of procuring defence equipment, security experts and analysts have said.
Despite being the largest arms importer globally, India now includes joint manufacturing or technology transfer provisions in most of its major weapons purchases, regardless of the country involved.
Moreover, Russia’s war in Ukraine has hampered some of Moscow’s military supplies to New Delhi, reinforcing the latter’s plan to diversify imports or replace them with domestic military hardware, sources in India’s defence establishment said.
According to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, India bought weapons worth over $60 billion (£47 billion) in the last two decades, of which 65 per cent or nearly $39 billion (£30.5 billion) came from Russia.
Indian defence minister Rajnath Singh has revealed India’s plan to order weapons from the domestic arms industry worth more than $100 billion (£78.4 billion) over the next 10 years.
“It is a reality, that we have to reduce dependence on Russia,” a senior Indian defence official, who is working on future capabilities of the Indian military, told Reuters on the condition of anonymity.
“But that is part two. The part one is the effort to get out of the import business.”
New Delhi announced significant purchases of American defence equipment during prime minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to Washington in June, including an order worth over $1 billion (£784 million) for GE engines for fighter jets.
Another one — for MQ-9B SeaGuardian drones worth around $3 billion (£2.3 billion) — is also being discussed.
Eric Garcetti, the US ambassador to India, said America had earlier paid “lip service” but was now making India’s access to military technologies easier.
He said Washington was “leaning in with technology” sharing more with New Delhi than it had with some its closest friends in the world.
But the moves so far are still not enough to end India’s reliance on Russia while stringent US laws governing the sharing of military technology put a limitation on future possibilities as of now.
“Nobody gives you everything. They keep you at least a screwdriver away from having it fully,” a second senior official from India’s defence ministry said, also on the condition of anonymity.
According to Indian security expert Arzan Tarapore from Stanford University, the agreements made during Modi’s visit do not indicate a shift away from Russia by India.
“A big shift away from Russia will take multiple decades,” he told Reuters.
