Atmanirbhar Bharat: India increased defence exports 8 times since 2014, says PM Modi

Gandhinagar (Gujarat): Asserting that India’s defence export has increased eight times since 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday that the country is on its way towards becoming a leading producer of military hardware.

PM Narendra Modi made the remarks while inaugurating the Defence Expo 2022 in Gandhinagar, Gujarat.

The Defence Expo 2022, which aims to provide an impetus to the Indian defence sector is being touted as India’s “biggest ever” defence exhibition. Organised on the theme ‘Path to Pride’, this is the 12th edition of the Defence Expo.

Echoing PM Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh also stated that Defence Expo 2022 is an important milestone in India’s journey towards becoming a global defence manufacturing hub.

“Path to Pride is not just a theme of this Expo, but a new objective of new India. Organizing this Defence Expo at the beginning of ‘Amritkal’, reflects our strong resolve to safeguard the nation and become a defence manufacturing hub for the world in the next 25 years,” Rajnath Singh said.

As a crucial step towards this objecitve, Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled a list of 101 defence items which will be produced indigenously as part of the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ initiative during the opening ceremony of Defence Expo 2022.

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These items, which are part of the fourth Positive Indigenisation List, will be procured from indigenous sources as per the provisions of Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) 2020.

The MoD had earlier promulgated first, second and third Positive Indigenisation Lists, comprising a total of 310 items on August 21, 2020, May 31, 2021 and April 7, 2022 respectively. These lists are intended to provide an impetus towards self-reliance in the defence sector.

“The biggest Defence Expo of the country so far has marked an emphatic beginning of a new future. I know that this has also caused inconvenience to some countries but several countries, with a positive mindset, have come with us,” PM Modi said.

“Defence Expo 2022 is displaying a grand picture of the new India, the resolution for which was taken by us during ‘Amrit Kaal’. It has the nation’s development, states’ participation, youth power, young dreams, young courage and youth’s capabilities,” he added.

“Defence Expo used to be held in our country earlier too but Defence Expo 2022 is unprecedented. It’s the symbol of a new beginning. It’s the first such Defence Expo in the country where only Indian companies are participating, where there are only Made in India defence equipment.”

This year’s Defence Expo is the first-ever edition exclusively for Indian companies. Indian companies, Indian subsidiaries of Foreign OEMs, Division of a company registered in India, and Exhibitor having a joint venture with an Indian company will be considered as Indian participants.

Defence Expo 2022 also marks the celebration of one year of the formation of the seven new defence companies, carved out of the erstwhile Ordnance Factory Board (OFB).

All these companies are participating in the Defence Expo for the first time. A total of 451 partnerships in terms of MoUs, Transfer of Technology agreements and product launches, almost double than the last edition, are expected during the Bandhan ceremony on October 20.

The India Pavilion - a marque pavilion of the Department of Defence Production - will showcase the maturity of indigenous defence products, start-ups and the latest technology, including Artificial Intelligence in defence, while presenting India’s vision for 2047.

In addition, there is also an exclusive Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) Pavilion to showcase the prowess of the country’s start-ups carrying out R&D and innovation in futuristic technologies.

For the first time, States, Union Territories (UTs) have been invited to set up pavilions at the event. The Defence Minister has emphasised that with this new initiative, States, UTs will get an opportunity to participate in nation-building by attracting investment and bolstering their potential of indigenous aerospace and defence manufacturing.

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