The Make in India Summit and Buyer, Seller Meet organised by Vidarbha Defence Industries Association(VDIA) kicked off with a big bang at Hotel Centre Point, on Thursday with an inaugural address by VDIA Chairman Lieutenant General Ravindra Thodge, PVSM, AVSM, SM, VSM (Retd).
Satyanarayan Nuwal, Chairman, Solar Group, Air Marshal Shirish B Deo, PVSM, AVSM, VM, VSM (Retd.) Sanjay Som, BEML, Colonel R S Bhatia (Retd), Jeong Deok-min, Consul General of South Korea, guest of honour was former ambassador of Slovakia to India and Lieutenant General S K Upadhyay, AVSM, SM, VSM, Master General of Ordnance addressed the inaugural session.
Lieutenant General S K Upadhyay, AVSM, SM, VSM later inaugurated the exhibition of industries. Industries from all over India displayed their products at the expo which are useful for defence.
The afternoon had three sessions having panel discussions. Topic of the first session was “Opportunities of Ancillary to private and public sector in Defenceâ€. Next session dealt with “Opportunities in India with Overseas Partners†where a delegation from Slovakia threw light on various business opportunities for Indian manufacturers in collaboration with Slovakian manufacturers. The last session was on “Sustenance requirements of Indian Armyâ€.
In this session Major General A K Channan, SM, ADGPP, Brigadier, P P Singh, VSM and Sanjay Som discussed about various procedures involved in becoming the preferred defence vendor in details.
The day also saw participation from various manufacturers from Nagpur, Vidarbha and across India. The day ended with closing remarks by Lt. Gen Ravindra Thodge, PVSM, AVSM, SM, VSM (Retd).
The event organized by VDIA and supported by VIA, MIA and BMA was very informative and encouraging for the participating delegates.
The two-day event concludes on Friday with discussions on the VDIA facility coming up in MIHAN in coming months and various facilities it will offer to the defence equipment manufacturers in near future.
Atul Pande, President, VIA; Dr Suhas Buddhe, Secretary, Pankaj Bakshi, Joint Secretary and Shiraz Doongaji, special invitee Executive Committee; VIA were prominently present at the event.