THE DEFEXPO MOVES TO GUJARAT

The 12th edition of Defence Expo will be held in Ahmedabad, in the state of Gujarat. AMARTYA SINHA outlines the plans for this edition and the legacy of the show

- AMARTYA SINHA

The biggest ever Defence Expo (Asia’s largest defence technology exhibition) is being held at Ahmedabad from March 10 to March 13, 2022. The biennial event aims to promote India as a global investment destination for manufacturing and assembly of advanced weapon systems and platforms, thereby playing a critical role towards realising the goal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of making India a $5 trillion economy by 2024-25. The event comes at a time when India is facing increasing geopolitical threats from an expansionist China and an unpredictable Pakistan in its neighbourhood. Moreover, it also comes at a time when the country is recovering from the third wave of the Coronavirus pandemic. Increasing private sector investments in the MSME sector also carries the potential to create direct and indirect employment opportunities for millions of skilled and semi-skilled youths in the nation, which may potentially arrest the ongoing economic sluggishness.

The 12th edition of DefExpo may prove to be the catalyst for Indian defence modernisation and also lay the solid techno-economic foundations for a ‘New India’ in the ongoing decade. The theme of the event is ‘India: The Emerging Defence Manufacturing Hub’, also aspires to promote R&D and fabrication of next generation technologies and solutions for the Indian armed forces in the country, which will set a new normal in acquisition of future military hardware and software.