India is world's top arms importer

India has replaced China as the world's top weapons importer, according to a study by the prestigious research group, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). India's push for modernizing its armed forces comes in tandem with a rise in economic status and a felt need to project itself in global positions of power, such as a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.

The SIPRI report says India received 9 per cent of the volume of international arms transfers in the period 2006-2010, with 82 per cent of that coming from Russia. This topped China, South Korea and Pakistan, it said.

''The increases are substantial, and if you look at the Indian plans for the near future, they are massive,'' Siemon Wezeman, a Sipri researcher who helped write the report, was quoted as saying.

Wezeman was careful to clarify that India's internal security threats and rivalries with Pakistan and China, the nuclear-armed neighbours with which it has border disputes, are responsible for the increase in expenditures.

Both China and Pakistan are amongst the most militarized nations. Indeed, China is now ranked immediately behind India as the second largest arms importer.

Pakistan traditionally has been one of the largest arms importers amongst all nations.