Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday inaugurated Asia’s biggest military airshow, Aero India 2023, and likened New India to a fighter pilot who “thinks fast, thinks far and takes quick decisions” while addressing a packed audience at the Yelahanka airbase even as he highlighted the potential of Aatmanirbhar Bharat and how the country’s quest for self-reliance had unlocked “new alternatives and opportunities” for the world.
“The new India of the 21st century will neither miss any opportunity nor will it be found lacking in any effort. The India of today thinks fast, thinks far and takes quick decisions like a fighter pilot. It is a country that is not afraid, but excited to scale new heights,” Modi said.
The participants at the 14th edition of the biennial airshow include more than 800 defence firms, representatives of around 100 foreign countries, 32 defence ministers, air chiefs of 29 air forces, and 73 CEOs of foreign and Indian original equipment manufacturers. The grand finale of the five-day airshow is expected to be the signing of 251 memorandums of understanding (MOUs) worth more than ₹75,000 crore, with the partnerships forged here giving a new push to the government’s Make in India initiative.
Modi said India, which was the largest importer of military hardware for decades, was now exporting defence equipment to 75 countries, and it was on course to increase its exports from the current $1.5 billion to $5 billion by 2024-25 with a sharpened focus on self-reliance in the defence manufacturing sector.
He said the transformation in the defence sector took place during the last eight to nine years, while referring to the locally built Tejas light combat aircraft, the commissioning of India’s first indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant last year, the setting up of a manufacturing facility by the Tata-Airbus consortium at Vadodara in Gujarat for C-295 medium transport aircraft to modernise the Indian Air Force’s transport fleet, and the recent inauguration of the country’s largest helicopter manufacturing facility at Tumakuru in Karnataka.
“From here India will take rapid strides to be included among the largest defence manufacturing countries and our private sector and investors will play a big role in that,” he said. The airshow seeks to project India as a defence manufacturing hub and showcase the country’s rising prowess in the aerospace and defence sector.
“Aero India’s deafening roar echoes India’s message of reform, perform and transform,” Modi said, while enumerating the steps taken by government for ease of doing business in the country and making it investor friendly.
Aero India 2023 is a shining example of India’s growing capabilities and the presence of around 100 countries at the airshow reflects the trust the world reposes in India, he said. “When the country moves forward with new thinking, new approach, then its systems also start changing according to the new thinking,” Modi said, while stressing that Aero India 2023 reflected the changing approach of new India. He said earlier Aero India was considered to be “just a show” and a window to “sell to India”, but that was no longer the perception. “Today, Aero India is India’s strength and not just a show.”
In his address, defence minister Rajnath Singh said India had become a promising manufacturing destination because of its business-friendly environment and cost-competitiveness. “India has become the fifth largest economy in the world. It is well on course to become the third largest economy in the next four to five years. India’s G20 presidency this year is also a reflection of the country’s growing stature,” Singh said.
Later addressing the CEOs attending the airshow, the defence minister said India does not want to remain an assembly workshop, and manufacturing cutting-edge military products was the need of the hour to boost Aatmanirbharta.
Singh assured the industry leaders that the government was open to new ideas and committed to “fully harness the energy, entrepreneurial spirit and capability” of private sector partners in the defence production sector. Chief of defence staff General Anil Chauhan, IAF chief Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari, navy chief Admiral R Hari Kumar and army chief General Manoj Pande also attended the CEO round-table.
“In-depth discussions took place between industry partners and the government during the meeting to bolster the ‘Make in India’ campaign. The aim was to increase ‘ease of doing business’ in India and provide a favourable platform to original equipment manufacturers to manufacture in the country,” the defence ministry said in a statement.
Singh had on Sunday indicated that India could bring more weapons and systems under an import ban, and manufacture them in the country to give a new push to self-reliance in the defence sector, with the latest “positive indigenisation list” set to come on the back of four similar lists that have barred the import of 411 military items during the last 30 months.
