India, France to discuss Rafale deal this week

TNN

New Delhi, 05 May 2015: India and France will hold the first formal consultations this week for concluding the Rafale deal announced during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Paris last month. 

 

Indian and French sources said the two sides will discuss the broad contours of the way forward to finalize the "government to government" deal for 36 fighter jets from France during the visit of French defence minister this week. 

 

French defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian will be in New Delhi on Tuesday to hold talks with his counterpart Manohar Parrikar and national security advisor Ajit Doval. Sources said the French minister would be accompanied by senior officials, and a team from Dassault, the manufacturers, is also expected to be around the period. 

 

Parrikar said the final negotiations to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets would start this month and wrapped up as soon as possible. "The government-to-government committee will be set up which will begin negotiations on the Rafale deal," Parrikar told PTI. "The negotiations will start any time in May and we have to conclude them as early as possible," he said in Goa. 

 

The deal, estimated to cost over five billion euros (approx Rs 35,000 crore), would be for buying 36 of the advanced fighters in a ’ready to fly’ condition. Parrikar said during Le Drian’s visit, the modalities for the negotiations would be discussed, but not the deal itself. "We will not be directly involved in future talks," Parrikar said. 

 

Meanwhile, French sources indicated that their side has several questions regarding the deal, and much of the clarifications would be sought during the visit of the minister, and subsequent meetings. Among them is the lack of clarity over committed budget for concluding the deal in this financial year itself. 

 

A senior official pointed out that the budget would not be a constraint. "For all important procurements, budget won’t be a constraint. We are flexible," he said. 

 

He said this philosophy will apply to other defence acquisitions too. "We are witnessing a phase of escalating ’committed liabilities’ for the past contracts, which are now in delivery phase. Thus there is only a limited amount of capital budget available for new purchases," he said. "However, for any procurement that is critical money won’t be an issue."