Sri Lanka is among the countries which had supplied weapon systems to the Indian Government in the last three years, the Indian Defence Minister has informed the Lok Sabha.
In a written reply to a Lok Sabha query on Monday, Defence Minister A K Antony said India’s three forces have spent over INR 2.35 lakh crore for procuring weapon systems from several countries including Russia, Israel, the US, the UK, Poland, Slovakia, Finland and Sri Lanka.
As per the data provided by the three Services headquarters, Russia has emerged as the biggest beneficiary of the imports by India by bagging business worth over INR one lakh crore.
Of the three forces, Indian Army has emerged as the biggest spender from the year 2010-11 to 2012-13 with purchases of over INR 1.92 lakh crore, as per the data in Antony’s reply.
In the Army procurement, the major expenditure has been on procuring missiles and armaments worth over one lakh crore, PTI reported.
The Defence Minister said the Indian Government has changed the procurement procedure for promoting self-reliance in weapon manufacturing by giving priority to indigenous production.
