Article Posted on : - Jul 30, 2015

NEW DELHI (PTI): The next edition of Defexpo India that brings in who's who of the global defence industry will be held in Goa, and not in Delhi, which had hosted the first eight versions of the biennial show.

Defence sources said the Ministry has decided that the 9th edition of the defence trade exhibition, formally known as the Land, Naval & Internal Homeland Security Systems Exhibition, will be held in Goa, and not in Delhi.

The exhibition will be conducted from February 17-20, 2016 and the Goa government has allocated land to set up necessary infrastructure at Betul, about 24 kilometres from Margao, in South Goa.

The sources were, however, quick to clarify that the selection of Goa had nothing to do with the fact that Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar hails from the state. A committee had selected Goa, they said.

They said that the Indian Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO), the Ministry of Commerce and Industry body that owns the Pragati Maidan trade complex in Delhi where the exhibition was held till now, had conveyed to the Defence Ministry about the need to move out the show.

"There was a huge space constraint and there is more interested companies now," one of the sources said.

They said Goa would also give an opportunity to foreign participants to get to know a different side of India.