AgustaWestland Jinxed in India

Deals between India and AgustaWestland seem jinxed taking into account that this is the second time in two decades that a helicopter deal between the two has been dogged by scandals.

In 1986, the Indian government under then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi agreed to purchase 21 Westland helicopters for the Indian Navy despite staunch opposition from experts who didn’t want the helicopters in the fleet.

But Gandhi went ahead with the deal after his British counterpart Margaret Thatcher proposed to allocate some £65 million of British aid for India for the purchase of the Westland helicopters.

Thatcher did so to bail out the helicopter company, a venture that had cost millions of pounds with no earrings; a blatant misuse of foreign aid.

The helicopters which were already obsolete at that time did not perform well and India decided to scrap the deal. However, the GOI recovered no more £1 million from the original purchase which cost £65 million.  

In 2000, India sold its entire fleet of Westland helicopters back to Britain for just £900,000 citing technical failures.

The 14-seater Westland 30s was highly unreliable and a commercial disaster. Soon after their arrival in India in 1987 two helicopters crashed killing 10 people. Additionally, the choppers were found to be unsuited to the tropical climate, needed constant servicing and repairs, and were flown only sporadically.

Ultimately, nine helicopters were sent back to the UK to be stripped down for spare parts.

In the latest scandal, Italian authorities have arrested Finmeccanica Chairman and Chief Executive Giuseppe Orsi yesterday for corruption and embezzlement in relation to alleged bribes given to the Indian government.

India and AW finalized the deal worth $650 million in 2010 and has already taken delivery of three helicopters this year with the remaining 10 scheduled to arrive before 2015.