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The Federation of American Scientists published its Nuclear Notebook on Indian nuclear weapons on 9 September 2026, estimating India's stockpile at about 190 warheads.
The figure matches SIPRI's estimate of 190 Indian warheads as of January 2026, up from 180 a year earlier, and puts India ahead of Pakistan's unchanged 170.
FAS assessed that more than 160 warheads are assigned to operational launchers, with about 30 linked to newer missiles still in production.
India is estimated to hold enough military-grade plutonium for between 140 and 225 warheads.
SIPRI's 2026 Yearbook assessed that India kept about 12 warheads deployed on Arihant-class submarines during peacetime - a shift from keeping the whole arsenal de-mated.
US non-profit policy research organisation; its Nuclear Notebook, carried in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, is the standard open-source estimate of world nuclear forces
Independent institute publishing the annual SIPRI Yearbook on armaments, disarmament and international security, including world nuclear forces and military expenditure data
India's apex body for nuclear decision-making, set up in 2003; it alone can authorise the use of nuclear weapons, through a Political Council chaired by the Prime Minister and an Executive Council chaired by the National Security Adviser
No first use means India will not initiate a nuclear strike, retaining nuclear weapons only to retaliate. Credible minimum deterrence means holding the smallest arsenal that still convinces an adversary that retaliation would be certain and unacceptable - quality of assurance, not quantity of warheads.
Simple Analogy: Not carrying the biggest stick, but making sure everyone believes you will swing back.
Pokhran-I, codenamed Smiling Buddha, India's first nuclear test
Pokhran-II tests; India declares itself a nuclear weapon state
India's nuclear doctrine made public - no first use, credible minimum deterrence, and the Nuclear Command Authority and Strategic Forces Command set up
INS Arihant, India's first indigenous ballistic missile submarine, is commissioned, completing the nuclear triad
SIPRI estimates India's stockpile at 190 warheads, with about 12 deployed at sea in peacetime
FAS Nuclear Notebook on India published, with the same 190-warhead estimate
GS Paper 2 > International relations, important international institutions and reports; GS Paper 3 > Security, nuclear doctrine
General Awareness > Strategic forces, nuclear doctrine, defence reports
General Awareness > Reports and organisations, current events
The FAS estimate of a country's nuclear forces, published in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists since 1987.
The ability to deliver nuclear weapons from land, air and sea; India completed it with the Arihant-class submarines.
Keeping warheads stored separately from delivery systems in peacetime - the posture India has traditionally followed on land.
Holding the smallest arsenal that still guarantees unacceptable retaliation, rather than matching an adversary warhead for warhead.