diff --git a/litellm/__init__.py b/litellm/__init__.py
index 29b5bc360a..e00e4f804e 100644
--- a/litellm/__init__.py
+++ b/litellm/__init__.py
@@ -113,6 +113,8 @@ ssl_verify: bool = True
 ssl_certificate: Optional[str] = None
 disable_streaming_logging: bool = False
 in_memory_llm_clients_cache: dict = {}
+### DEFAULT AZURE API VERSION ###
+AZURE_DEFAULT_API_VERSION = "2024-02-01"  # this is updated to the latest
 ### GUARDRAILS ###
 llamaguard_model_name: Optional[str] = None
 openai_moderations_model_name: Optional[str] = None
diff --git a/litellm/router.py b/litellm/router.py
index ac61ec729f..8d9884d1f0 100644
--- a/litellm/router.py
+++ b/litellm/router.py
@@ -3437,7 +3437,7 @@ class Router:
                     if azure_ad_token.startswith("oidc/"):
                         azure_ad_token = get_azure_ad_token_from_oidc(azure_ad_token)
                 if api_version is None:
-                    api_version = "2023-07-01-preview"
+                    api_version = litellm.AZURE_DEFAULT_API_VERSION
 
                 if "gateway.ai.cloudflare.com" in api_base:
                     if not api_base.endswith("/"):
diff --git a/litellm/utils.py b/litellm/utils.py
index 82e3ca1712..6c1814629c 100644
--- a/litellm/utils.py
+++ b/litellm/utils.py
@@ -3634,7 +3634,7 @@ def get_model_region(
             model=_model,
             api_key=litellm_params.api_key,
             api_base=litellm_params.api_base,
-            api_version=litellm_params.api_version or "2023-07-01-preview",
+            api_version=litellm_params.api_version or litellm.AZURE_DEFAULT_API_VERSION,
             timeout=10,
             mode=mode or "chat",
         )