India: World’s Biggest Arms Buyer

Despite a time of overall peace, the world is experiencing an arms race. Eastern powers especially are buying up arms at an alarming rate: “The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute report said India was pushing ahead with plans to modernise its military in an effort to counter China’s influence and gain international clout. India’s defence budget for the coming year is 1.5 trillion rupees ($32.5bn), a 40 per cent increase from two years ago. It imports more than 70 per cent of its weapons. The report said the vast majority of those imports—82 per cent—come from Russia, which has long been India’s supplier of choice.”