India continues to import military equipment in spite of its growing production of defense and aerospace equipment. In the 2016-17 fiscal year, indigenous military equipment production reached Rs 74,054 crore, according to data tabled in the upper house on Monday.
The data, however, shows that India continues to import defence equipment at the same level as it did in 2014-15 and this hovers around 39 to 40 percent of all acquisition under the capital head of the Budget.
Due to the payment for Rafale aircraft, as well as high value items like surveillance planes, imports surged to 48.68% of acquisitions in 2018-19.
India was the second largest arms importer for the period 2016-20, as per a report of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), a Sweden-based think-tank.
Although the data show imports at the same level as before, things are expected to improve. Last year, the US, Russia, France, and Israel, all these countries who have been major suppliers of weapons and military equipment, have been told that it will have to ‘make in India’ in future.
