India expands nuclear arsenal and military spending according to SIPRI Yearbook 2026

Key facts

• The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) released the SIPRI Yearbook 2026 on June 8, estimating India's nuclear arsenal at approximately 190 warheads by early 2026.
• India's military expenditure reached $92.1 billion in 2025, ranking it as the world's fifth-largest military spender behind the United States, China, Russia, and Germany.
• India was the world's second-largest importer of major arms during the 2021-25 period, accounting for 8.2 per cent of global imports, with the five largest recipients being Ukraine, India, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Pakistan.
• The nine nuclear-armed countries are the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea, and Israel, with India primarily producing plutonium as fissile material.
• The SIPRI report identified six interstate armed conflicts in 2025: Afghanistan-Pakistan, Cambodia-Thailand, India-Pakistan, Iran-Israel/United States, Russia/North Korea-Ukraine, and Congo-Rwanda.
• Operation Sindoor was described as an unusually severe military crisis between India and Pakistan in May 2025.