By Vivek Raghuvanshi
NEW DELHI — Under an offsets deal reached by India and France regarding the acquisition of 36 Rafale fighter jets, France has agreed that it will fulfill its obligations only within the aerospace arena and not partly through research and development projects, an Indian Defence Ministry source said.
With a final agreement reached on offsets, India and France are likely to sign a protocol by the end of this month to buy 36 Rafales and thereafter the price negotiations will follow, leading to a final deal in the next four to six months, the MoD the source added.
Ever since Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced in his April visit to Paris that India intended to buy 36 Rafales on a government-to-government (G2G) basis, talks between India and French were stuck on the issue of offsets, with the French initially not agreeing to discharge offsets at all.
India wants 50 percent of the total amount of the deal, estimated to be around $10 billion for 36 Rafales, including weaponry, to be matched by offsets involving purchases from the Indian aerospace sector, including tie-ups and cooperation with domestic defense companies to boost India's defense production base.
The French wanted 20 percent of the offsets to be discharged through R&D tie ups with India's Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO), but the MoD rejected their request, the source added. The list of R&D projects in which the French had evinced interest to participate is not known.
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