Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi opens Aero India 2023
Prime Minister Narendra Modi 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 air base 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.
