Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), a Swedish think-tank, released a report titled ‘Top 100 arms-producing and military services companies 2021’, which lists companies making arms, weapons, military planes and equipment.
- India’s military equipment manufacturing companies Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) have been listed in the top 100.
- HAL has improved to 42nd position in 2021 ranking, compared to 43rd in 2020 and BEL has secured 63rd position, showing improvement from 69th position in 2020.
- The United States (US) has topped the list followed by China, for the second successive year.
Indian companies in the Top 100 list:
| Rank | Company | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 42 | Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) | India |
| 63 | Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) | India |
Top 3 global companies in the list:
| Rank | Company | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lockheed Martin Corporation | United States |
| 2 | Raytheon Technologies | United States |
| 3 | Boeing | United States |
HAL & BEL’ report:
i.As per the report, the arms sales of HAL have increased by 6.7 percent and that of BEL by 20 percent compared to 2020.
ii.The total arms sales of the two Indian companies in the top 100 were USD 5.1billion (approximately Rs 40,000 crore) in 2021.
iii.The Indian Ordnance Factories, which appeared in the 2020 list of the Top 100, has been dropped out of the list due to its restructuring into seven smaller companies in October 2021.
Key highlights:
i.According to the report, the overall sales of arms and military services by the 100 largest companies globally stand at USD 592 billion in 2021, witnessing an increase of around 1.9 percent compared to 2020.
ii.The United States (US) has topped the list with 40 companies followed by China, for the second successive year. The combined arms sales of the 8 Chinese companies included in the list amounts to USD 109 billion, which is a 6.3 percent increase.
- Also, four state-owned Chinese companies,which produce both military and civilian products have been ranked in the top 10 of the ranking.
iii.This is the first year in which a Taiwanese firm, NCSIST appears in the Top 100, ranking 60th. The firm which specialises in missiles and military electronics, recorded arms sales of USD 2.0 billion in 2021.
Other countries in list:
i.Six Russian companies are included in the Top 100 for 2021. Their arms sales totalled USD 17.8 billion, an increase of only 0.4 percent compared to 2020.
ii.The arms sales of five Top 100 companies based in the Middle East totaled to USD 15.0 billion in arms sales in 2021, which was a 6.5 percent increase compared with 2020.
iii.The four Top 100 companies based in Japan had sales totalling to USD 9.0 billion, which is a decline of 1.4 percent.
About Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI):
Director – Dan Smith
Establishment – 1989
Headquarters – Stockholm, Sweden
