DefExpo 2022 postponed, indefinitely

Six days before the show, India’s defence ministry announced in a tweet that DefExpo 2022, which had been scheduled to take place from March 10 to March 14 in Gandhinagar in Gujarat, was postponed.

“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,” said the tweet from the spokesperson of the defence ministry, Bharat Bhushan Babu.

Industry executives expressed astonishment at the postponement at such short notice, with some saying they had spent large amounts of money for making arrangements for exhibiting at the biennial show, which they do not consider likely to be recovered.

“Incredible India!” exclaimed a foreign participant.

As recently as Monday, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had ‘observed the preparedness and efforts and expressed confidence for the conduct of a safe and successful DefExpo-2022’. He was reported to have noted that ‘the recent relaxation of health protocols in India has generated greater interest in DefExpo-2022 which has 78 participating nations, 39 Minister Level delegations with other confirmations to be received in the days ahead and 1000+ registered exhibitors. Foreign Defence Ministers confirmations are also being received and as of date are equal to the previous edition at Lucknow in Feb 2020 in the pre-COVID times.’

There were doubts expressed at the stated reason for the postponement, with executives explaining that logistics arrangements were made months in advance, anyway.

Some speculated that the only participants facing ‘logistics problems’ would be Russian representatives at the defence exhibition, given the sweeping economic and financial sanctions that have been imposed on the country after their invasion of Ukraine. “Obviously their Visa or Mastercard credit cards wouldn’t work in India,” said one executive. An India – Russia defence industry cooperation conference had been one of many scheduled during the show.

“But,” he added, “That’s still no reason to scrap the exhibition.”

Last month, the duration of the exhibition had been extended by one day. The official inauguration of DefExpo 2022, scheduled for March 10, had also been moved to March 11 because of the scheduled counting of votes on that day in state elections in India, widely considered to be politically significant.

Last year, the defence ministry managed to hold the biennial AeroIndia air show in Bangalore even in the middle of the Covid pandemic. Incidentally, that show had seen significant participation from Ukraine. In 2019, as the pandemic was just beginning to spread around the world, India held DefExpo in Lucknow.

The first World Defence Show is scheduled to be held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from March 06 to March 09 with 423 exhibitors.

None of the representatives of companies approached for comment by your correspondent had been officially informed of the postponement or the reasons for it, by the time of publication of this report. All the industry executives to whom your correspondent reached out, expressed surprise, hearing about it for the first time when informed about the tweet by the defence ministry. Representatives of foreign governments were also taken aback, saying they had been looking forward to travelling to attend the exhibition.

This report will be updated in the event more clarity emerges on the postponement.