A new revelation by former French president Francois Hollande on the India-France deal to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets has sparked off a fresh round of allegations against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
The deal to buy the jets from the French aviation major Dassault Aviation has led to a massive controversy that has mired the Modi government in allegations of kickbacks and crony capitalism.
The agreement was suddenly announced by Modi on an official visit to France in April 2015. However, a clause in defense deals mandated by India, states that at least 50% of the contract value must be given to Indian companies as “offsets”.
Curiously, an earlier deal to buy 126 fighter jets from Dassault was cancelled by the Modi government in favor of the new deal.
The first deal involved public sector firm Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), which is overseen by the Ministry of Defense, while the second deal cuts HAL out and a private firm, belonging to an industrial house with major debts, was brought in as an offset partner.
The Modi government had defended the move to bring in a private player stating that it was a decision of Dassault Aviation and the French. But Hollande has gone on record to state that it was the Indian government who brought in the private player.
Allegations
While speaking to the online media publication mediapart.fr, Hollande said “C’est le gouvernement indien qui a proposé ce groupe de service, et Dassault qui a négocié avec Ambani. Nous n’avons pas eu le choix, nous avons pris l’interlocuteur qui nous a été donné” (The Indian government proposed this service group, and Dassault negotiated with [Anil] Ambani [the head of a major group of companies]. We did not have the choice, we took the interlocutor who was given to us).
In a fresh statement on Saturday, Hollande reaffirmed his earlier statement and added that he didn’t know what happened with Dassault when the deals for offsets were finalised in 2016.
Hollande’s first comments led to immediate clarifications from the french government and Dassault Aviation. Curiously, none of them directly addressed the key revelations made by Hollande.
On April 8, 2015, the then Foreign Secretary Subrahmanyam Jaishankar told the media before embarking on a multi-nation tour that “in terms of Rafale, my understanding is that there are discussions underway between the French company, our Ministry of Defense, and HAL. These are ongoing discussions. These are very technical, detailed discussions. We do not mix up leadership level visits with deep details of ongoing defense contracts.”
A few days later Modi announced a fresh deal with France, indicating that the foreign secretary was not in the loop. In his briefing Jaishankar assumed that the earlier deal to buy the 126 fighter jets was still under consideration. However, subsequent facts indicate otherwise.
The reason for cancelling the first jet deal has never been fully clarified. In 2015, the then defense minister Manohar Parrikar cited escalating cost as a major reason to cancel the deal. Parrikar cited a figure of Rs 900 billion to the official government channel Doordarshan on April 13, 2015. But in a subsequent interview a month later, to news agency Press Trust of India, he raised the price to Rs 1.3 trillion. No explanations on this revised estimate has ever been sought or offered by the Modi government.
Currently, the reason for cancelling the earlier deal due to high costs has moved to an argument that HAL was not good enough to go ahead with the deal. Ironically, this argument came from no less than the current defense minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, in an interaction with the editorial staff of the news agency Press Trust of India. HAL, as a public sector undertaking, comes under Sitharaman’s ministry.
Depleted Indian Air Force
For nearly two decades the Indian Air Force has been desperate to modernize its depleting fighter jet squadrons. Officially, it has 45 fighter jets squadrons. In reality, with most of its ageing Soviet-era fighter jets being mothballed, it is down to less than 30 squadrons. Even the bulk of the remaining squadrons have decades-old aircraft such as the MiG-21, the Mirage-2000, MiG-29 and Jaguars.
Most of these aircraft have already completed their original life-cycle and need to be replaced. Ideally, defense acquisitions in India are driven by long-term perspective planning by the respective services. For decades, the air force has cited the need for Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA), which can perform a multitude of roles in different theatres of war.
After nearly a decade of issuing requests for bids to test various aircraft ranging from the Swedish Gripen to the American F-16 and F/A-18, the Indians settled on the Rafale. They cited a requirement for 126 aircraft, which was negotiated by the previous Congress-led government. However, in 2014 they lost the general election and Modi took charge with India’s first full majority government in 30 years. But in April, it mysteriously junked the ongoing 126-aircraft negotiations and announced a 36-aircraft deal for a considerably higher price.
This sparked off a major controversy reminiscent of the Bofors artillery gun controversy that had haunted the Rajiv Gandhi-led Congress government from 1984 to 1989. The Bofors case came to represent the corruption-infested defense deals in India for decades. At that time Swedish radio revealed key details that led to the explosive controversy. This time, a former French president’s interview has opened a can of worms for the Modi government months ahead of a general election.
The Bomb turns out to be paper bomb, the French Govt. and Dassault both have rebutted Hollande, so much for Pappu’s bribed statements.
i wonder, what is coman in NAWAZ SHREEF AND MUDI SERKAR, ?i found out CRUPTION..CUSTUDAIN OF INDIA AND PAKISTAN,WHO DUTY IS TO HONESTY, AND LOOK OFTER THE BETERMENT OF NASTION? BOTH FAILED MISEBLY, the first one looted mony cruption,frad,mony loundring,evan leve WIFE ON DIYING IN LONDON,TO COME PAKISTAN, IF HE DONT COME BACK, IS ALL WELTH WILL BE GONE, THATS WHY HE CAME BAKE?SECOND ONE MUDI BIG CHEST MAN SO CALED?AS SOON HE GOT POWER,HE GOT KICK BAKE FROM FRANCE. there are peoples in big citi in india, who sleeping on the road for junrestion,? how can he loot mony ,i dont know?some peoples got ZAMEER, in there bely?he cant evan feed his wife? THANKS ALLAH SWT, nawaz gone, and INSHAA ALLAH MUDI GOING TOO..BUT WHAT THAY LEFT BEHAIND, MISREE,AND HEARD SHIP FOR THERE PEOPLES,WHAT A SHAME BIG CHEST MAN?NOW THAY WANT TO DIVERT ATENSTION OF THERE LOG, TO BORDER, FIGHTING, ?SO MUDI WANT TO SOME MORE BLUD, SO HE CAN SERVIVE? HOW MANY KASHMIREE YOU WILL KILL, AND DRAG THERE BODY ON ROAD, SHAME MAN?
WuKong Sun Better well drilling equipment will not solve the problem, in fact will only make it worse as better euqipment means deeper wells and higher depletion draws. Underground storage systems, I dare say, would be very rare indeed. What would help is the recycling of waste water, to purify this and re-inject it back to the aquafer would go some way to contributing to the undergound supplies.
Fuma Quimono Only if they are vegetarian burgers, have you forgotten, cows are sacred in India ?
Any nation that sends up such space stations needs to re-cycle them, add them on to any future space construction, rather than allowing them simply to enter earth orbit and partialy burn up. These out of date resources, are resources that could be utilised in any future construction, be it on the moon or a space station. There should not be any difficulty in attaching rockets or similar power pods to move them from their current trajectory into the new one.
For all the anti Modi folks dreaming of turning Rafale deal into Bofors like scam, there is no remedy for belying yourself.
Here’s what the ex-French President had said:
“Initially, the deal was supposed to be for 126 planes, then when the government changed, the Indians reformulated their proposition, less attractive for us because it was for 36 aircraft only. But the manufacturing was planned to be in France, contrary to the preceding proposition, so we lost on the one hand and gained on the other.” But the new deal also included the offset agreement between Dassault and the Reliance Group, now the subject of controversy. How and by whom was the latter selected? “We didn’t have any say in this matter,” Hollande told Mediapart. “It is the Indian government which had proposed this service group, and Dassault who negotiated with Ambani. We didn’t have the choice, we took the interlocutor who was given to us".
https://thewire.in/business/full-text-of-french-report-on-how-modi-govt-pushed-anil-ambani-as-partner-for-rafale-deal
What needs to be understood here is that:
1) Hollande has NOT named any Indian entity in the sentences attributed to his direct quotes.
2) He has used the term ‘service group’, meaning more than 1 entity that will be the recipients of the offsets. This then translates into the offset business from Dassault amounting to just Rs 6,600 crore (Rs 66 billion). Dassault’s share in the total offset Export Obligation (sic) is thus approximately 22%, or Rs 6,600 Cr (Rs 66 billion). The balance 78% of offsets are to be discharged by other companies such as Thales, Safran and MBDA. Thales already has a JV with HAL for discharging its offsets obligations, while SAFRAN too has an arrangement with HAL for building RLG-INS like Sigma-95N & Sigma-30. In addition, SAFRAN is negotiating various joint R & D with DRDO.
3) The term ‘service group’ refers to all those military-industrial entities of India that have been successfully vetted by a joint MoD-Union MHA team to ensure compliance with various industrial security-related parameters that are specified in the India-France Inter-governmental Agreement inked in 2008 that forms the umbrella agreement for all military-industrial co-production projects.
Therefore, it is utterly baseless & mischievous for anyone, especially the INC, to claim that Reliance will be the SOLE beneficiary of Rafale-related industrial offsets, & that the name of Reliance was specifically proposed as a beneficiary of offsets contracts by anyone in this GoI, because the list of Indian entities eligible for receiving offsets contracts that was given by India’s MoD to France’s DGA is an official document, & is therefore officially communicated. Such matters cannot be communicated verbally. All these will be revealed in the CAG’s audit report of the Rafale deal in future. The French govt too will respond soon along similar lines, rest assured. Only those ‘desi’ commentators who have no domain expertise on such matters involving the finer details of governmental SOPs will continue cribbing, & most of them in any case have lent their signatures to the PIL that was recently filed with the Supreme Court, so they now have a malicious motive in spreading falsehoods as well.
Man o man. Whatever the issue might be, whether related or not, for a Pakistani it always ends with same cribbing about India and their unfulfilled agenda with regard to Kashmir. Your carry on bhaijan with your usual nonsense.god bless.
Yawn. You don’t say. Not even a stray dog in India cares.
There is also an article in Caravan Magazine covering this corrupted deal, which puts Modi in troubleed waters.
"On a Wing and a Prayer India gambles its defence interests on Reliance Group".
http://www.caravanmagazine.in/business/india-gambles-defence-interests-reliance-group
So this is how politicians get rich quickly and easily.
nice try
Please understand that Rafale jets will be coming in fly away condition to India. Initially Congress and Rahul Gandhi accussed governmen of inflating the value of the jet.
That accusation fell off due to technical reasons provided on the India sepecific modifications and the fact that if HAL would have build it in India it would have been 2.7 times more costly breaking the back of Indian exchequer.
Please read this as well:
http://trishul-trident.blogspot.com/2018/07/iaf-rafale-m-mmrca-costings.html
Now they are after offset partners. The accusation is Modi Govt. unduly favored Reliance as offset partner.
There are 89 offset partners. The discussion with Reliace and Dassault was on since 2008 and was finalised in 2012/2013 (durig UPA term). The deal was redone and went thru DPP checks post the finalisation of 36 jets instead of 126 in 2016.
This is true for rest of 88 partners too.
HAL and Dassault could on agree on product service gaurantees and HAL said any complaints about the technical details that it deems as design faults needs to be taken up by OEM. Dassualt now will under Dassault Reliance India Limited will provide full MRO gaurantees. Whats more there is a high possiblity of additional Rafales if Modi comes back to power. With upto another 52 aircrafts that can be ordered in CKD format to be assemmbled in India.
The offsets leads to 50% re-investment leading to French investment in Indian Aircraft engines to Falcon passenger jets made for Indian B&C citieis. etc.
So it was a good deal. Government of the day should articulate all this and not leave it to ordinary folks to speculate.
FYI – I am not related to BJP in any form.
It appears that HAL and Anil Ambabi private company some litigation concerns over the offsets. Rahul Gandhi is defending HAL as an attorney as well as promoting his political campaign. This had brought the Rafeale Fighter jets and Narendra Modi into a delimna. Will India lose the contract of buying the fighter or is it because of two offsets squabble and Rahul Gandhi the IAF must suffer the entire nation air defense? The cost of a needed war plane can be legally inflated as an incentive to the buyer as a means of camaraderie. Its not the seller that’s in question about the cost its the buyer and the conflict of interest isn’t giving India a good name whilst seller is waiting on payment. Parties involve must think thoroughly before risking the nation security and financial deficits.
Modi sarkar zindabad. ????
Good job shedding clear light on the issue, Pappus and Piddis are going to eat crow on this issue.
Carvan magazin is a CONgress mouth piece of Shit, which is run by dubious individuals on payroll of Rahul Gandhi. These people are Modi haters and want to tarnish his image by hook or crook.
Which politician got rich in this deal? The deal is Govt. to Govt. the money will be paid to French Govt. who will in turn pay it to Dassault. There is no middlemen like Christina Mitchel and Quatrochi Uncle of Rahul Gandhi, the Offset requirements are there for 50% of the money to be reinvested in India, and Dassault has signed up with 100 companies to do various projects with their technologies.
The cost of bare plane is 9% cheaper then what CONgress was negotiating, and fully loaded/weaponszed plane cost is 20% cheaper then what CONgress was negotiating.
ALL this has been explained by Indian FM Mr. Jaitly very well.
There are India specific modifications, Nuclear and Bilogical environment survival hardening, capabilities to carry Nuclear warheads, several hundred long range A2A missiles, precision ammunition, 5 years of service contract that guarentees 75% availability at all times. NONE of this was part of CONgress deal negotiations. BUT the real price escalation comes from currency depreciation and inflations. Even there Modi has done a great job of reducing the escalation to only 1% that CONgress had agreed to be at 3.5% per annum.
Don Bacon : Facts are in favor of Mr. Modi and not in favor of PAPPU Chutiay-In-Chief.
s fg g erf rty w rthy 4 yry rty 45tdfh ffd n nx cnx x hz hhs s f h gd
Real Nuts.From where did you get the information, revelation rather?
it is "not" a concern for IAF, sshe will continue dreaming of flights of TEJaS and rafal etc.
oh indian’s this is how your money is "flying"???
Spend all your effort, time on interpretting what Hollande said.But it reamains "The Indian government proposed this service group, and Dassault negotiated with Ambani. We did not have a choice, we took the interlocutor who was given to us" He made this much clear not to defame Modi but to protect his comapanion’s as well as his reputation.Modi is a collatral casuality of truth
Falcon Dave You are troll put up by Modi
The bomb was not detonated intentionally.When he had to defend his partner against allegations Hollande had to reveal certain fact and incidentally it exploded on Modis face.
Joji Cherian : Do you live on PLANET EARTH? Or you are in Eden? Go and google for French Govt. and Dassault statements rebutting that Pappu Hollande.
modi defuse that bomb……
Joji Cherian : And Inidan Govt. has already said, they did not propose any names, so we will believe them and not Hollande, who himself is under scrutiny for cronysm in France.
If Hollande agreed to such a pressure (if at was ever made), then his is the first one at fault. But we know French website does not even have a recoded statement, and the interpretation was manufactured to sound like it did, with Pappu’s cryptic tweet that preceded by Hollande’s statement is really interesting.
wat abt upcoming tejas ? and now france is giving in base in africa to counter chinise military ports…now goverment ll never tell that to everyone and it costs a expense thats obvious .. congress knw all the loop holes so they stick wid it for 2019
wat abt upcoming tejas ? and now france is giving in base in africa to counter chinise military ports…now goverment ll never tell that to everyone and it costs a expense thats obvious .. congress knw all the loop holes so they stick wid it for 2019
does india use cow’s urine as jet fuel? if not then it’s at R&D level. india needs toilets more than anything!
does india use cow’s urine as jet fuel? if not then it’s at R&D level. india needs toilets more than anything!
What India doesn’t need is Jamaat jokers from kangladesh like she’s iqbal tito…
What India doesn’t need is Jamaat jokers from kangladesh like she’s iqbal tito…
There was no early contract to buy 126 Rafael, it was only a proposal and some unfinished negotiations. Don’t lie on facts
There was no early contract to buy 126 Rafael, it was only a proposal and some unfinished negotiations. Don’t lie on facts
Falcon Dave are you coolie writer of apu?
Falcon Dave are you coolie writer of apu?