Goa. 27 March, 2016. Amidst voices of disagreement, mounting scepticism and protests by local populace, Defexpo 2016 is all set to roar in the wilderness of Quepem Taluka of South Goa, first time outside Delhi since its genesis.

For the first time live demonstration will be a part of the show. It will be conducted by DRDO, OFB, Bharat Forge and Tatas.

1,030 Indian and international defence companies  from the United State, Russia , UK , Germany , France , Israel , South Korea, Italy amongst the 47 countries participating. As always on the fronts of the not-so-friendly neighbours ,Pakistan has not been sent an invitation and China has been invited to send an official delegation, but has not responded.

“More than 47 countries , 225 official delegations and 750 business delegations will participate in Defexpo 2016. For the first time, we will bfront e holding live demonstrations of equipment, which was a constraint in Delhi,” said A K Gupta, Secretary Defence Production.

He added that the success of Defexpo 2016 will depend on  how effectively it would provide a business-to-business forum for Indian and foreign companies to tie up partnerships to benefit from the “Make in India” policy.

Among the companies participating will be the Italian major  Finmeccanica, the holding company for AgustaWestland  the manufacturer of  AW-101 helicopters  which saw the cancellation of the VVIP helicopter contact in India. The other blacklisted companies Rhinemetal and Singapore Technologies will not be there at the show in Goa.

He emphasised that the show is  being shifted because of the  Pragati Maidan trade complex in Delhi, had warned the defence ministry in 2012 that Pragati Maidan would be unavailable as a new convention centre would be coming up there, trying to put to rest speculations that it was not Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar’s state  where he was chief minister before taking over the defence portfolio, getting priority despite no infrastructure. The venue has been given to Defence Exhibition Organisation  for the four days event by Goa Industrial development Corporation .