NEW DELHI: The much-awaited 12th edition of DefExpo - India’s flagship exhibition on Land, Naval and Homeland Security systems - will be held in Gandhinagar, Gujarat between October 18-22, 2022. It was postponed in March 2022 due to logistical problems being faced by the participants.
Confirming the dates, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) on Monday said, “The five-day event will witness three business days followed by two public days. Live demonstrations showcasing the equipment and skill set of the Armed Forces, DPSUs and Industry will be held on all five days at Sabarmati RiverFront through active participation and synchronized efforts at all levels.”
The theme of DefExpo 2022, Asia’s largest event in the defence sector, says MoD, is ‘Path to Pride’. At DefExpo-2022, the participants will get an opportunity to showcase their equipment and platforms and also be able to explore the strengths and capabilities of the expanse of Indian Defence industry for forging Business partnerships.
“The event will help boost investment, expand manufacturing capacities and capabilities, and discover avenues for technology absorption.” added the Defence Ministry.
The exhibition is being planned with events such as Bandhan for forging of partnerships between companies; seminars and webinars showcasing start-ups/MSMEs, including cutting-edge technology solutions for future battlefield; Artificial Intelligence in defence; student visits and showcasing Gujarat as an investment destination for aerospace and defence sector, etc.
As per the Ministry, “The reforms in defence manufacturing are attracting greater interest from Indian Defence manufacturers and it is therefore anticipated that DefExpo-2022 would attract active participation from Indian companies.”
DefExpo 2022 is in line with India’s endeavour to achieve self-reliance in defence and achieve export of $5 billion by 2025.
The DefExpo-2022 website (www.defexpo.gov.in) is available providing online services to exhibitors, besides hosting informative content about the various indigenous defence products and promoting heritage and leisure at Gujarat. The exhibitor booking would be available for Indian companies which will include Indian subsidiaries of Foreign OEMs, Joint Ventures between Indian and Foreign companies, Defence Public Sector Undertakings, State Pavilions, DRDO and Indian companies. The website will be an enabler for exhibitors to register and book space online on a first-come-first-serve basis, make online payments, book conference halls and venues for Business-to-Business (B2B) meetings.
The website will be the first interface making the process of booking and information access effortless. A sizable number of participants who have retained their presence in the post postponement event, opting for the Costs of Compensation offered by the Ministry will be reallocated their space.
Bookings of space for new exhibitors will commence from August 15, 2022. Trade visitors will be able to buy their tickets on the website for visiting the show during business days i.e., 18, 19 and 20 October and Free Entry for the general public on 21 and 22 October. Defence publications and media would also require to register online through the website. A discount of 25% will be offered on the earlier space and ticket rates for DefExpo-2022 to encourage wider presence of Indian companies. Special focus will be to promote the Indian start-ups and MSMEs as also setting up of State Pavilions to further their A&D policies.