The 2022 Defence Expo has been delayed due to the logistics issues faced by some participants amid the ongoing Russia- Ukraine war. The Expo was going to be held in Gandhinagar, Gujarat from 10th to 14th March.
“Due to logistics problems being experienced by participants, the #DefExpo2022 proposed to be held in Gandhinagar, Gujarat from March 10th till March 14th is postponed. The new dates will be communicated in due course,” spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence had announced on Friday on twitter.
Tbough the reasons have not been cited by the government, there were concerns regarding hosting Russian, American and Ukrainian vendors at the same venue, as per government sources cited by the Indian Express (IE).
Other possible reasons might be sanctions on Russian defence equipment manufacturers which has recently become a new issue for the Indian defence industry, which still rely on Russian arms and spare-parts imports.
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However, a major reason is reportedly the foreign government representatives and company executives who have expressed their inability to attend the expo, as per a report by The Print.
Interestingly, the major participant in the previous Aero Show was Ukraine which had expressed interest in collaborating in the field of defence and aerospace.
In line with the 2022 Budget outline for defence spending, the 2022 Expo will focus on pushing indigenization of critical defence equipment as well as partnership with foreign business vendors.
In line with the principle of Atmanirbhar Bharat (self-sufficiency), impetus as provided in the 2022 Budget to the development of indigenous defence technology and manufacturing ecosystem.
“68 per cent of the capital procurement budget will be earmarked for domestic industry in 2022-23, up from 58 per cent in 2021-22,” the Budget read.
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Further, in a groundbreaking announcement, research and development (R&D) in defence technology will be opened up to the private industries, start-ups and academia for which 25 percent of the R&D budget has been earmarked.
The private sector will be encouraged to collaborate with public sector defence enterprises, such as DRDO via a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) model which will help establish joint ventures for developing critical military technology.
However, the postponement of the defence expo has not gone down well with the local vendors.
The Indian MSME representatives had already paid for flight, accommodation and logistics most of which is reportedly non-refundable, as per the responses to the announcement on twitter.
Both Indian and foreign industry executives have shown their displeasure vis-a-vis the decision, with some even saying that India might get the "unreliable player" tag, the IE report further says.
The Indian defence exports have increased from INR1521 crore in 2016/17 to INR8434.84 crore in 2020/21.
The Indian government aims to increase the exports in the defence goods and services to over INR35000 crore by 2025.
In December 2021, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said that India had exported defence items worth over INR 38000 crore in the past seven years.
