NEW DELHI: The Defence Ministry has selected Lucknow to conduct Asia's biggest defence exhibition in 2020. The state capital of Uttar Pradesh will conduct the 11th DefExpo from February 5th to 8th next year.
Making it official the Ministry of Defence on Sunday tweeted, “The 11th biennial edition of DefExpo India- 2020 is scheduled to be held for the first time in Uttar Pradesh capital Lucknow."
The theme of the DefExpo India- 2020 is ‘India: The Emerging Defence Manufacturing Hub’ and focus will be on ‘Digital Transformation of Defence’, added MoD.
Traditionally, Delhi used to be the venue for this exhibition but in 2016 the expo shifted to Goa and then to Chennai in 2018.
The defence ministry said that the exhibition will also highlight emergence of UP as an attractive destination for investment in the defence sector and act as a platform for alliances and joint ventures in the defence industry.
Uttar Pradesh was chosen in 2018 to set up one of the two Defence Industrial Corridors in the country along with Tamil Nadu. Subsequently, six nodes have been identified for Uttar Pradesh Corridor in Kanpur, Lucknow, Aligarh, Agra, Jhansi and Chitrakoot.
Yogi Adityanath government has already identified about 5,000 hectares for the corridor.
As per the MoD, the northern state has a strong defence industrial infrastructure. It has four units of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd at Lucknow, Kanpur, Korwa and Naini (Prayagraj), nine ordnance factory units, including Kanpur, Korwa, Shahjahanpur, Firozabad and one unit of Bharat Electronics Limited at Ghaziabad.
The Uttar Pradesh Corridor will encourage Defence Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), including the Indian defence industry, and promote Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs).
“It (DefExpo) offers an excellent opportunity for the Indian defence industry to showcase its capabilities and promote its export potential. The DefExpo will provide an opportunity to the major foreign Original Equipment Manufacturers to not only display their latest innovations and capabilities but also to collaborate with the Indian defence industry and help promote ‘Make in India’ initiative,” said the Defence Ministry.
The shows are conducted at an international level, which not only facilitates Business-to-Business interaction with senior foreign delegations but also Government-to-Government meetings and signing of MoUs.