Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in Bengaluru on Sunday that the Inter- Government Agreement for the Rafale fighter jets deal did not name HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited) or any other company as partner of Dassault Aviation.
Ms. Sitharaman was in conversation with N. Ravi, Publisher, The Hindu , on “In defence of the realm: how prepared is India?” at The Huddle.
She said, “The Inter-Government Agreement [between India and France] is like a memorandum of understanding, which only broadly states intention. It does not name anybody, not HAL or any other private company.
“In the UPA [United Progressive Alliance] non-deal, HAL had clearly stated manpower, which was not accepted by Dassault [Rafale manufacturer]. If Dassault does a deal with a private company, it is absolutely nonsense to say that it was done because the Prime Minister handpicked the company.”
The Defence Ministry would get to know about the Indian partner only when it applied for credit after fulfilling the offset obligation. Prices of the aircraft were bound to go up as India would want to upgrade the basic, cheaper fighter jet to suit its terrain and potential use.
''Is govt. stand a 'self goal'?''
N. Ram, Chairman, The Hindu Group, asked ''Is the Centre’s refusal to reveal details of the deal — as was seen in Parliament recently — a 'self-goal' for the ruling NDA (National Democratic Alliance) government as the Congress has been claiming.''
In response, Ms. Sitharaman said: “I want to answer, and it would bring satisfaction to all the people here. But it will also lead to satisfaction for our enemies ... But how many times has the UPA also sought protection under national security. We [BJP, then in the Opposition] did not express outrage on this.”
In her opening remarks, the Minister said indigenous defence procurement was being emphasised, with 120 out of 170 defence contracts being with Indian companies. “Until recently, 60% of components were imported. Now, it is 35%,” she noted.
However, responding to a question on the issues of procurement of the HAL-developed Tejas light combat aircraft, Ms. Sitharaman said that while 40 were procured by the Air Force, processes were being completed to order another 83.
“There has to be serious improvement in scaling up of production by HAL, either through outsourcing or their own,” she said.
