Defence Expo 2016 kicks off, bids to be the biggest yet

The ninth edition of Defexpo India, a biennial exhibition on land, naval and internal homeland security systems was inaugurated today by the Defence Minister, Manohar Parrikar at Goa. The four-day event is being organised by the Defence Exhibition Organisation of Department of Defence Production, Ministry of Defence.

The inaugural ceremony saw live demonstrations of military equipment including Main Battle Tank Arjun Mk I and II, various types of heavy bridging equipment, wheeled armoured vehicle, Sarang Aerobatic team and Naval LCA. MBT Arjun Mk II and wheeled armoured vehicle were being displayed for the first time in any exhibition.

The expo has seen exhibitors taking part from 47 countries, 17 more than the previous edition. Also, over 1000 companies, both foreign and Indian, are taking part this year. The net exhibition area sold during this edition is 40,725 square meters.

DPP to push Make in India campaign

At the outset Parrikar announced that the Defence Procurement Procedure-2016 (DPP-2016) will provide a push to the ‘Make in India’ campaign. He said the government has been proactive in its ‘Make in India’ initiative and desires to also include ‘Startup India’ which will find opportunities in the defence sector. The minister stated that the government has tweaked the policies to address the concerns of defence manufacturers and suppliers and enhanced transparency. The new procurement policy being promulgated by DPP-2016 will ensure faster pace in procurement especially through newly introduced categories under Indigenously Designed, Developed and Manufactured (IDDM) provisions. Such provisions will encourage the Indian industry in defence sector, he added. He acknowledged the contributions of the small and medium scale industries in defence sector, quoting that many innovative ideas have come from these sectors. He further added that, while Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in defence sector is capped at 49%, higher FDI can be considered on a case-to-case basis. 

Also commenting on the occasion was the Minister of State for Defence, Rao Inderjit Singh, who said that over the last 70 years India has created a robust industrial base and the aim of the government is to transform India from being a net importer to a net exporter of defence equipment through its ‘Make in India’ campaign.

The topics of the seminars being conducted on March 29 and 30 are global defence supply chain, advances in shipbuilding technology; Make in India for defence sector, India – Korea defence cooperation, modernisation programme of Indian Army and challenges and opportunities of defence offset.

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