While one Indian company exited from the SIPRI’s (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute) 2021 ‘Top 100’ list that was released on Monday, two state-owned Indian manufacturers of weapons and providers of military services retained their place.
The two companies are Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) at rank 42 and Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) at rank 63 in the list of 100 companies.
In SIPRI’s 2020 ‘Top 100’ list, three Indian companies were named—HAL, BEL and the OFB or the Indian Ordnance Factories. That year, HAL was ranked 42nd, BEL was placed at rank 66 and OFB at 60th place.
The latest report said: “The total arms sales of the two Indian companies (HAL and BEL) in the Top 100 were $5.1 billion in 2021. The arms sales of Hindustan Aeronautics and Bharat Electronics increased by 6.7 per cent and 20 per cent, respectively”.
“Both companies (HAL and BEL) have benefited from major orders placed by the Indian armed forces in recent years,” it added.
In 2021, the total arms sales of the world’s Top 100 totalled $592 billion in 2021, marking an increase of 1.9 per cent in their arms sales compared with 2020.
While four Chinese companies bagged spots in the top 10, a total of eight Chinese arms companies were included in the Top 100 in 2021, with an aggregated arms sales of $109 billion—6.3 per cent more than in 2020.
Country-wise, in the 2021 list, US companies topped with a share of 51 per cent of the total arms sales, followed by Chinese companies with 18 per cent, UK firms with 6.8 per cent, and French companies with 4.9 per cent share. Russian companies garnered only 3 per cent of the global share.
India is the world’s second-biggest importer of weapons after Saudi Arabia and is also the world’s third-biggest spender on defence after the US and China.
Originally comprising 41 Ordnance Factories (OFs) under the administrative control of the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) operated under the defence ministry, the government, on June 16, 2021, announced plans to restructure the OFB into seven government-owned professionally managed corporate entities.
The OFB restructuring move was prompted to enhance autonomy, and improve accountability and efficiency besides deepening specialization in the product range, enhance competitiveness and improve quality and cost-efficiency.
The 41 OFs were the oldest and largest conglomerate in India’s defence industry that employed about a lakh workers.
