India: India has emerged as the leading buyer of conventional arms among developing nations in 2004, beating China into second place, despite nearly 40 per cent of its population of more than 1.2 billion living below the poverty line.
According to the US Congressional Research Service, possibly the most comprehensive assessment of global weapon sales, India has bought weapons worth $5.7 billion.
It was also the developing world's largest weapons purchaser over the 1997-2004 period covered in the report, sealing 10 per cent of all such arms deals.
China overtook India for the period 2001-2004 on the back of a big increase in defence spending and modernisation, especially of its navy, but Delhi was back on top last year.
In an ambitious attempt to become a regional superpower and project diplomacy through military means, India has in the past three years contracted to buy a conventional arsenal including a Russian aircraft carrier, Israeli airborne early warning systems, Russian frigates and a range of sophisticated US equipment for its newly raised special forces.
In early September the Indian navy finalised a $3 billion contract with France for six conventional submarines to bolster its reach and power projection.
The navy also advanced negotiations with the US to acquire eight to 12 refurbished maritime reconnaissance aircraft worth more than $2 billion.
The Indian air force, meanwhile, is reviewing proposals for a multi-billion-dollar contract for 126 combat aircraft and the Patriot anti-missile defence system, while the army is re-evaluating plans to acquire 1,200-1,500 howitzers over the next decade in a deal valued at more than $3 billion to standardise its nearly 200 artillery regiments.
The Indian army is the third-largest in the world after China and Russia.
The navy also began constructing a 37,000-ton aircraft carrier locally, while all Indian naval yards are full with orders, building warships to reinforce the fleet.
India is also constructing 150 multi-role Russian Sukhoi 30 fighters under licence and will soon begin making Russian T90 S main battle tanks locally, having bought 310 of them three years ago for around $800 million.
Israel has risen swiftly up India's weapon sales charts, providing it with $2.76 billion worth of arms over the past three years, making Tel Aviv the second-largest supplier of military equipment to Delhi after Russia.
Shortly after Delhi and Tel Aviv formalised diplomatic relations in 1992, Israel clinched contracts for three Phalcon airborne warning and control systems or Awacs for $1.1 billion, and also hardware and missile upgrades.
Tel Aviv is also supplying the Indian military with drones and satellites to "weaponise" space and, with a range of missiles valued at around $900 million each year since 2002, comparing favourably with the $1,500 million defence business India conducts annually with Moscow.
Britain, too, has joined in this bonanza with 66 Hawk jet trainers worth more than $1.65 billion.
The US military-industrial complex, backed by the White House, is also exercising influence to fight its way into an Indian defence market that seeks to upgrade and replace more than 70 per cent of its arsenal of Soviet-era and Russian weaponry.