There are many people who try to mock India because India buys a lot of weapons from abroad, but they are ignoring the fact that buying weapons from abroad brings many benefits to India and it is not forever. .
India is backward and incompetent, so it tries to buy everything it needs and can. He spared no money, in order to close the gap with the great powers, using the money to address the weakness of the lack of skills, experience and capacity in the local military industry.
For India at present, technology is more important than money, and money can easily be replenished by surpluses from exports.
Only true to some extend.
India certainly has the option of buying from all over the globe. Except for the Chinese MIC, India can buy from MIC of any country on the planet. The sudden gains in capability is only a short term deal. It even is an impediment to the overall long term development towards India's great power vision.
Every penny or rupee that India invests on foreign equipment is a rupee taken away from economic and social development. This is serious especially for an inefficient democracy.
China is not spared from this predicament. Every yuan China spends on defence is a yuan taken away from Chinese economic and social upliftment. Developing countries are vulnerable and can fall prey to the trap of Defence spending. One can already see how Pakistan suffers from shoddy development and a huge percent of its budget being allocated towards Defence. India's situation is not as grave but isn't good either.
I've yet to see meaningful long term benefits to Indian defence industry from this perpetual shopping spree habit. It usually demands ToT ( transfer of technology) and I think only Russia has managed to help India in somewhat meaningful manner - Brahmos, Nuke Subs etc.
But even then, India struggles to develop subsonic cruise missiles ( having claimed to have got ToT for Supersonic from Russia), Tanks, Aircrafts etc. India must be wishing that it never got access to international weapon markets and be constrained like China was.