The 12th edition of DefExpo-2022, Asia’s largest exhibition on land, naval and homeland security systems, will be held in Gandhinagar from October 18-22, and will focus on projecting the country as an emerging defence manufacturing hub in line with the government’s vision of achieving self-reliance in defence, the defence ministry said on 8 August.
The exhibition was earlier supposed to be held from March 10-14 but was deferred by the government on the back of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, though the official line was that it was postponed on account of “logistics problems” faced by the participants.
The event was deferred barely a week before it was to begin.
“The Indian defence industry has been keenly anticipating DefExpo-2022 which is Asia’s largest event in the defence sector. It was postponed in March 2022 due to logistical problems being faced by the participants,” the ministry said on Monday.
The participants will get an opportunity to showcase their equipment and platforms, and also to explore the strengths and capabilities of the Indian defence industry, besides forging business partnerships, the statement said. “The event will help boost investment, expand manufacturing capacities and capabilities, and help discover avenues for technology absorption,” it added.
About 1,000 defence firms and 55 countries were expected to take part in the show in March. The US, Russia, several EU countries and Ukraine were among the nations that were to take part in it.
Foreign delegations headed by at least 50 defence ministers/service chiefs had also confirmed their participation then.
The show is taking place at a time when the government has sharpened its focus on promoting self-reliance in the defence manufacturing sector and positioning India as an exporter of military hardware.
DefExpo was traditionally held in Delhi until 2014 after which it has seen a string of new venues — Goa (2016), Chennai (2018) and Lucknow (2020). The venue was shifted to Goa when Manohar Parrikar was the defence minister, it moved to Chennai when Nirmala Sitharaman held the portfolio and it was staged in Lucknow with Rajnath Singh as the defence minister.
From raising foreign direct investment (FDI) in defence manufacturing to creating a separate budget for buying locally made military hardware and notifying three lists of weapons/equipment that cannot be imported, the government has taken several measures to boost self-reliance in the defence sector over the last three years.
