Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday laid the foundation stone of a new airbase coming up in north Gujarat near India-Pakistan border.

He said that the airbase will emerge as an effective centre for the country's security.

Speaking at the Defence Expo 2022 at Gandhinagar in Gujarat, PM Modi said that defence forces will release a list of 101 more items that cannot be imported.

With this 411 defence-related goods can only be procured locally, he said.

"This will give a major boost to the Indian defence industry," he added.

The PM further said that this is an unprecedented DefExpo as only Indian companies are participating in it for the first time.

The airbase will come up at Deesa in Banaskantha in North Gujarat.

He also said that the exports of Indian defence products have increased eight times in the last few years.

The country has come a long way, as "earlier we used to release pigeons and now we release cheetahs," he added.