Publication

This article examines the main types of firearms in service with Indian government institutions and estimates the total size of the firearms inventories belonging to Indian government agencies. By identifying three historical waves of Indian arms procurement, the authors also show how Indian procurement strategies and the types of weapons acquired changed over time. They find that while Indian arms were primarily domestically produced from 1900 to 2007, Indian security agencies are relying less on domestic production of arms and more on modernization through imports since the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.