India Among World’s Top 5 Defence Spenders, Outspends Pakistan Nearly 8 Times: Report

Last Updated:April 28, 2026, 08:12 IST

Sipri says India became the fifth largest defence spender in 2025 at $92.1 billion, 3.2% of global total, as global military outlays hit $2.887 trillion

India emerged as the world’s fifth-largest defence spender in 2025, after the United States, China, Russia and Germany, according to a report released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) on Monday.

In 2025, the country accounted for 3.2% of total global military expenditure. New Delhi’s defence outlay reached $92.1 billion, marking an 8.9% rise compared to 2024.

The country’s defence expenditure has increased amid heightened operational preparedness, which includes emergency acquisitions undertaken during Operation Sindoor to maintain combat readiness.

Last year, India’s military spending stood at $92.1 billion, which was an 8.9% increase over the previous year, according to the report.

During Operation Sindoor against Pakistan, India’s armed forces made a raft of emergency procurements to remain battle-ready.

The report also underlined a broader regional trend of rising military budgets. China, the second-largest spender globally, increased its expenditure by 7.4% to $336 billion.

Meanwhile, Pakistan recorded an 11% increase in defence spending to $11.9 billion, ranking 31st among the countries assessed.

Global Military Expenditure Hits $2.8 Trillion Peak

Globally, military expenditure climbed to $2,887 billion in 2025. The combined spending of the top three countries – the United States, China and Russia – stood at $1,480 billion or 51% of the global total, as per the report.

“The main contributor to the global increase in military spending in 2025 was a 14% rise in Europe to $864 billion. Spending by Russia and Ukraine continued to grow in the fourth year of the war in Ukraine, while ongoing rearmament efforts by European NATO members led to the sharpest annual growth in spending in Central and Western Europe since the end of the Cold War," the report stated.

The latest report comes even as India’s dependence on imported arms shows signs of easing.

A separate Sipri study released earlier this year found that India’s arms imports declined by 4% between the periods 2016–20 and 2021–25. Despite this drop, India remains the world’s second-largest importer of major weapons, accounting for 8.2% of global imports, a Sipri report published in March.

According to the report on “Trends in International Arms Transfers", the tense ties with China and Pakistan drive India’s arms imports.

In the last decade, India has moved its arms relations away from Russia and more towards Western suppliers, especially Israel, France and the United States, stated the March report, which compared the data over two five-year periods.

“The largest share of Indian arms imports during 2021-25 came from Russia, at 40%—a significantly smaller share than in 2016-20 (51%) and almost half of that in 2011-15 (70%). India is increasingly turning to Western suppliers," the report said.

Israel, France and Russia are the top suppliers of military hardware to India.

On February 1, India increased its defence spending by more than 15% in the wake of Operation Sindoor. The government kept Rs 7.85 lakh crore aside for the critical sector in the Union Budget for 2026-27, which included a capital outlay of Rs 2.19 lakh crore to increase the capabilities of the armed forces with new weapons and systems like fighter planes, transport aircraft, helicopters, warships, submarines, artillery guns, smart weapons, missiles, rockets and different unmanned systems.

News world India Among World’s Top 5 Defence Spenders, Outspends Pakistan Nearly 8 Times: Report

Read More