T he biennial Defense Expo is to begin on Monday at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi. The exhibition, which will be inaugurated by the Indian Defense Minister AK Antony, is to be on a larger scale than previous years, with an substantial increase in participation and floor area occupancy.
The floor area occupancy has gone up from 17200 square meters in 2008 to 30100 square meters in this year.
The expo will see participation by 35 countries, ten of whom have booked entire pavilions at the venue. Israel has the largest of these pavilions (1200 square meters) with 21 companies. The US will be fielding the largest number of companies, with a figure of 25 exhibitors.
The total number of exhibitors has also gone up to 650 and some 40 official delegations are likely to visit from various countries.
But the largest individual exhibitors remain Indian, with DRDO, BEML, Tata and Pipavav leading in area covered.
