Nirmala reviews preparations for DefExpo

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday reviewed the preparations for the upcoming DefExpo 2018 to be held at Thiruvidanthai, on the East Coast Road, from April 11–14.

A dry run of the demonstrations of the land, air and naval systems, scheduled to be displayed for Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 12, was conducted in her presence.

The Prime Minister would officially inaugurate the event that day, and would open the ‘India Pavilion,’ spread over 35,000 sq.ft, which would showcase the latest products made by public and private companies.

“This defence expo, will showcase, a number of products that are being made by India and can be exported. This is an additional feature of this expo,” Ms. Sitharaman told reporters after the rehearsals.

“Products of our country’s small and big business houses that have a potential to export or are already exporting defence products will be showcased here. Foreign companies, delegates can look at these products and there is a possibility of orders being fixed at the expo. We are trying to create opportunities for big, small and MSMEs at the expo,” she added.

Largest expo

Earlier, Ajay Kumar, Secretary, Defence Production, said the exhibition was the largest one to be held since its inception.

“This event is being conducted on over 2.90 lakh sq.ft of space, an increase of 25% over the last event held in Goa. MSMEs will showcase their products on 20% of the total area, and 72% of the space has been provided for Indian exhibitors,” he said.

When asked why the participation of companies, especially international exhibitors, was low compared to the last edition, Mr. Kumar said all the big international companies would be present at the event. “I would like to look at the list from the last event and see which ones are not here that you are talking about. But the big, major ones are here,” he said.

On China’s participation, Mr. Kumar said an invite had been sent and they are still awaiting confirmation.

During the event, a scheme for Defence Innovations will be launched and innovation hubs will be set up in colleges, industry clusters to spur new ideas and products. The first hub will come up in Coimbatore in collaboration with CODISSIA, and will be the first of a National Defence Innovation Hub, he added.