Indian Military Recent SIPRI Reports:India maintained its rank as the world’s fifth largest spender on its armed forces in 2025 and also stood as the second largest buyer of major arms across the globe according to two separate reports by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). The numbers illustrate India’s steady pursuit of militarization due to the current geopolitical situation and increased stress on indigenous production.
The latest report by the SIPRI military expenditure database demonstrated significant increase in defense spending by India through the year 2025. An independent SIPRI review of arms transfers showed the growing reliance on imported military equipment in spite of the government’s attempts at self-reliance via ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ and ‘Make in India’ policies.
Indian Military Recent SIPRI Reports
India’s defense expenditure surged by 8.9% to $92.1 billion in 2025 thereby marking it as the fifth biggest spender in terms of military budget, only after the United States, China, Russia and Germany. The defense budget augmentation took place at a time when global military expenditures soared to record high figures, touching $2.89 trillion in 2025 thereby carrying forward the ten year trend of rising defense budgets globally.
SIPRI: India Remains the World’s Second-Largest Arms Importer
While defence spending has increased, India also remained heavily dependent on foreign military equipment. India accounted for 8.2% of global arms imports during 2021–25, ranking second only to Ukraine
SIPRI’s latest report on international arms transfers found that India was the world’s second-largest importer of major arms during the 2021–2025 period. Only Ukraine imported more weapons during the same period, largely due to the ongoing conflict with Russia.
India accounted for 8.2 percent of global arms imports between 2021 and 2025. SIPRI notes that military spending in Asia and Oceania recorded its fastest annual growth in more than a decade, driven largely by strategic competition and regional security concerns.
The report noted that Russia remained India’s largest arms supplier. However, New Delhi has gradually diversified procurement sources by expanding defence partnerships with France, the United States, Israel and several European countries.
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Global Military Trends Highlight
The SIPRI data reveals that across several regions, the year 2025 saw increases in military expenditure. One of the most significant upticks in Europe was due to the war in Ukraine, and general security concerns.
China-which remains the world’s second highest military spender-invested nearly $336 billion, while Pakistan spent $11.9 billion.
However, globally, it is being confirmed that with ongoing geo-political rivalry and a changing nature of security threats, governments globally are spending more out of their budgets to defense.
Analysis from Official & Experts
Researchers at SIPRI reported that spending growth in Asia and Oceania hit its highest rate in more than a decade. Experts attribute India’s surge to long-term modernization goals, and competition for resources in the Indo-Pacific, and preparation.
Defense economists state that the growth of India’s economy also provides the fiscal space required to sustain this growth in military capability, while also being used to foster Indian arms manufacturing.
What’s To Expect?
India’s strategy toward defense seems to be a balancing act between defense modernization, and an increased emphasis on defense production in the country itself.
“India is marching ahead towards becoming a global defence manufacturing hub,” MoneyControl quoted Rajnath Singh as saying at the time, adding that the surge reflected growing international confidence in India’s indigenous defence capabilities and manufacturing strength.
Future military plans suggest a procurement pipeline of advanced fighter planes, naval platforms and air defense systems as well as drones and future defense technologies, which could more likely take the form of collaborations.
Industry observers are sure that India’s defense budget is poised for further upward mobility as the country adapts to emerging challenges and moves towards diminishing its reliance on foreign defense hardware in the long-run.
