Rafale Deal Inching Towards Closure; Indian Negotiating Team Submits Report

The Indian Defense Acquisition Council (DAC) chaired by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, is likely to meet on August 18 to take up the final report submitted by the team negotiating the Rafale fighter jet deal with France.

The Council had last month reviewed the multi-billion Euro Rafale deal and directed the Indian negotiating team to submit its report "expeditiously".

"The negotiating team has submitted its report, which is under examination," the minister said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha on Friday.

Parrikar had in July said that details including transfer of technology through offsets will emerge after the negotiations are completed.

“The negotiations are underway and IGA and offset contract are yet to be finalized,” he said.

A Negotiating Team has been constituted to negotiate the terms and conditions of the procurement of 36 Rafale jets and recommend a draft agreement.

The minister had said aircraft being procured will have advanced features like Advanced Electronically Scanned Array Radar, mid-air refuelling and advanced electronic warfare equipment as part of its design.

According to PTI, the deal is estimated to be around 7.89 billion Euros.

The price was brought down from nearly 10 billion Euros, as sought initially, due to various reasons, including the discount offered by the French government and reworking of some of the criteria.

The deal comes with the clause of delivering 50 per cent offsets, creating business worth at least 3 billion Euros for smaller Indian companies and creating thousands of new jobs in India through the offsets.