India Seeks Fresh Price Quote On Rafale Deal?

 India has sought for a fresh price quote from France on the purchase of 36 Dassault Rafale Fighters which is lower than US$ 9 billion which has been talked about earlier.

This could mean the deal is back to square one as fresh price quote will mean the entire process will have to negotiated afresh, The Tribune News Daily reported Thursday.

India and France signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) Tuesday during the visit of President Francois Hollande’s to New Delhi’s where he was chief guest at India's Republic day celebrations.

It was announced then that pricing was left out of the IGA-MOU and would be to be decided in the coming days. India has reportedly balked at the high price the aircraft plus weapons, training and support had added up to.

“It was way too expensive. The price has come down from earlier but not to our expectations. Let them (the French) do their exercise of costing and come back with a fresh offer,” a senior functionary was quoted as saying by the Tribune news daily.

The French President was quoted as having cited a figure of US $9 billion for the 36 jets, including two types of missiles (air to ground and air-to-air), training of pilots, bombs and base facilities of the planes. It would translate to INR 59,000 crore or INR 1,630 crore per piece.

Thje report said that Indian negotiators are willing to pay some US $7 billion or Rs 46,000 crore which amounts to INR 1,180 crore per piece (US $173 million). The wide difference of US$ 2 billion could mean a fresh calculation of all the components of the deal.