India, March 11 -- India's weapon imports fell 9.3% between 2015-19 and 2020-24, and the share of military hardware sourced from Russia dropped significantly during this period, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) said in a report published on Monday.

The new data comes at a time when the government is focused on cutting imports and boosting self-reliance in the defence manufacturing sector.

India is still the world's second largest arms importer behind Ukraine, which is at war with Russia, with New Delhi's imports "reflecting perceived threats from both China and Pakistan," said the report on international arms transfers. Earlier, India was the world's largest arms importer.

Ukraine became the world's largest ...