Correct Answer : Option (D) - United States
India may be pushing for ‘atmanirbharta (indigenous development)’ in defence equipment — the central government earmarked 68 percent of the capital budget for 2022-23 for domestic manufacturing industries — but the country remains the largest importer of arms globally, a report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) has shown.
Most of India’s defence imports come from Russia, the report says.
However, according to SIPRI’s Trends in International Arms Transfers, 2021 — published this month — India’s total volume of imports fell by 21 per cent from 2012-16, which could be a reflection of the push to manufacture arms and weapons systems indigenously.
The volume of global arms transfers between 2017 and 2021 was 4.6 per cent less than during the 2012-16 period, the report says. The 2017-21 global arms transfers were, however, 3.9 per cent more than for the 2007-11 period, it adds.
The five largest arms importers in the 2017-21 period were India, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Australia, and China, while the five biggest exporters of arms in the same period were the United States, Russia, France, China, and Germany..
Largest Arms Exporters in 2017-21 :
* USA, with 39% share, retained its standing as the world’s largest arms exporters during 2017-21.
* Russia (19%), France (11%), China (4.6%) and Germany (4.5%) were among the top 5 largest exporters respectively.
* India was
23rd largest exporter during 2017-21, with a share of just 0.2% of the global exports.
Source : The Print
