Arms sales of top Indian firms drop 6.9%, reveals Sipri report

Stockholm, Dec 10: The combined sales of three public sector Indian defence companies that figure among the world's 100 top arms suppliers dropped by 6.9 per cent to stand at USD 5.9 billion in 2018 despite a rise in the global weapons sales, according to a new report published by a leading Swedish think tank.

Sales of arms and military services by the sector's largest 100 companies (excluding those in China) totalled USD 420 billion in 2018, marking an increase of 4.6 per cent compared with the previous year, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said on Monday.

The new data from SIPRI's Arms Industry Database shows that sales of arms and military services by companies listed in the top 100 have increased by 47 per cent since 2002. The database excludes Chinese companies due to the lack of data to make a reliable estimate. Eighty of the 100 top arms producers in 2018 were based in the USA, Europe and Russia.