Defexpo-2014 to showcase India’s capabilities, open new vistas

The eighth edition of Defexpo India, being organised from 6 to 9 February 2014 at Delhi's Pragati Maidan, will showcase the country's capabilities in land and naval defence systems as also internal security systems while providing a platform for forging alliances and joint ventures in the defence industry.

The event provides an excellent opportunity to the Indian defence public sector undertakings (DPSUs), private sector and other defence related industries to demonstrate their capability to design, develop and deliver a wide range of military and civil products and services.

In all, 624 companies, both foreign and Indian, will be taking part, which is 57 more in number than the Defexpo 2012. A total of 256 Indian companies are participating this year compared to 335 in Defexpo 2012.

A total of 368 foreign companies from 30 countries are participating this year in the show, against 232 in Defexpo 2012.

These include companies from Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, Slovak Republic, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, UK, Ukraine and US.

There are 12 country pavilions from France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Norway, Poland, Russia, South Africa, S Korea, UK and US.

About 511 official delegates from 52 countries are attending the show, including 133 delegates from 36 countries, who are attending the Defexpo 2014 as invitees.

The net area sold during this edition is 27,515 square metres with booking from various participants still in the pipeline against 27,150 square metres sold in the previous exhibition. The gross area of exhibition remains 45,000 square metres.

Additional space has also been provided for B2B meetings as during Defexpo 2012.

A seminar on Indigenisation of Defence Procurement: Global Partnerships Towards Joint Development and Indigenisation' is also being organised on 6 and 7 February 2014, which would provide useful insights and feedback on defence procurement and offset procedures and indigenisation of various products and services.

It may be recalled that the Defence Production Policy – 2011 aims at achieving substantial self-reliance in the design, development and production of equipment/weapon systems/ platforms required for defence in as early a timeframe as possible.

The policy also envisages creation of conditions conducive for the private industry to take an active role and enhance the potential of SMEs in indigenisation and to broaden the defence R&D base of the country.

The Defence Production Policy (DPP)-2011, announced in May 2013,  proposes to promote indigenisation in defence procurement through:

• Preference in procurement of 'Buy and Make (Indian)' and 'Make' categories over 'Buy (Global)' and 'Buy and Make with transfer of technology';
• Simplification of the Procedure for 'Buy and Make (Indian)' category of procurement to make it more attractive, clear and transparent for the industry;
• Revision of the definition of indigenous content to provide more clarity and to enhance the real indigenous content in the defence equipment;
• Provision to make any Indian company as MTOT partner in `Buy (Global)' cases, irrespective of the company being DPSUs/ OFB, etc.
• Placing technology perspective and capability roadmap (TPCR) in public domain to provide the industry an idea about the future requirement of the armed forces;
• Tweaking offset guidelines for leveraging capital acquisition to create capability of Indian industry to produce defence goods and to acquire critical defence technologies.

The procedure for undertaking 'Make' projects is under revision to provide more clarity and to make it more attractive for the industry.

A committee for defence production has also ben constituted for initiating actions for bridging technology gaps and augmenting indigenous defence production capabilities.