The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) headed by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Thursday reviewed the proposed Rafale fighter jet deal with France and directed the committee handling price and related negotiations to submit its report “expeditiously.”
The deal is pegged at nearly £7.89 billion (Rs65,000 crore) in which India will buy 36 Rafale jets manufactured by Dassault of France. Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced this decision during his visit to France last year. It will be a Government to Government deal wherein French Government will stand guarantee for all aspects, including delivery schedule, availability of critical spare parts besides maintenance and upgrade.
The contract negotiations started in January this year and the process was in the final stages, sources said here, adding the Rafale committee briefed the DAC about the progress made. Parrikar directed the committee to submit its report expeditiously, they said. However, no final decisions were taken.
It was earlier expected that a final decision could be taken on the Rafale deal at the Ministry level in the DAC on Thursday, but it seems there would be another review by the DAC on the issue soon.
As per the normal process, once a deal is cleared by the Defence Ministry, it is scrutinised by the Finance Ministry and the final clearance is given by the Cabinet Committee on Security(CCS) chaired by the Prime Minister.
Parrikar had hinted in May he was looking at wrapping up the deal soon and this could mean by end of June or July. Rejecting suggestions that there was a delay in signing the contract, he said any such process takes at least 6-8 months.
The proposed deal has a 50 per cent offset clause in which the vendor will plough back half of the contracted amount into the Indian Defence industry. France has also offered to collaborate with India in its Kaveri fighter jet engine project as part of off set. Indian scientists are yet to make a breakthrough in this project after it was given the given the go-ahead 20 years back. The indigenously designed and manufactured engine is meant to power Tejas fighter jet.