New Delhi: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will on Thursday take stock of preparations for the next edition of India's mega defence exhibition - the DefExpo - to be held in Gujarat's Gandhinagar in March next year. The defence minister will visit Gandhinagar on Thursday during which he will review the preparations for the DefExpo-2022, officials said. The DefExpo is scheduled to be held from March 11-13. The focus of the exhibition will be to showcase India as an emerging hub for the manufacturing of military hardware. Major global and domestic military firms are expected to participate in the 12th biennial edition of the DefExpo with their latest weaponry and platforms.
The 11th edition of DefExpo had taken place in Lucknow last year. The theme of the upcoming DefExpo will be "India: The Emerging Defence Manufacturing Hub", officials said. The government is expected to highlight measures at the event to transform India into a hub of military manufacturing. The government has initiated a series of measures in the last couple of years to encourage the domestic defence industry.
Last August, Singh announced that India will stop the import of 101 weapons and military platforms like transport aircraft, light combat helicopters, conventional submarines, cruise missiles and sonar systems by 2024. A second negative list, putting import restrictions on 108 military weapons and systems such as next-generation corvettes, airborne early warning systems, tank engines and radars, was issued recently.
Also read: Afghan situation raises new security concerns: Rajnath Singh
In May last year, the government announced increasing the FDI limit from 49 per cent to 74 per cent under the automatic route in the defence sector.
PTI
