PM Narendra Modi is to inaugurate Defence Expo, a biennial exhibition of weapons and military hardware, in Chennai today. The theme of four-day expo is "India: The Emerging Defence Manufacturing Hub".Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman exhorts Indian companies to give a boost to domestic defense manufacturing.

 Major global and domestic military firms are eyeing billions of dollars of contract as part of the country's military modernization programme. India is expected to spend close to USD 300 billion in the next five years in procuring defence equipment and almost all major global defence firms are eyeing a slice of it.

Though the four-day-long DefExpo, on the outskirts of Chennai and close to the temple town of Mahabalipuram, kicked off on Wednesday, now it will formally be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday.

According to the Defence Ministry, over 670 defence firms, including 154 foreign manufacturers, are participating in the exhibition of weapons and military hardware.

Delegations from over 47 countries, including the US, the UK, Russia, Afghanistan, Sweden, Finland, Italy, Madagascar, Myanmar, Nepal, Portugal, Seychelles and Vietnam are attending the event.

Defence Minister said that private companies are likely to come up with tech savvy, enhanced products and this will enable the government to promote and approve them easily.