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Defence minister Manohar Parrikar on Wednesday said the Commercial Negotiation Committee (CNC) is expected to give its final report on acquisition of French fighter plane Rafale either by end of February or early March. The decision was not being dragged by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, he added.
"I have asked for the report but have not received yet. Until the detailed report is submitted, I will not be able to comment on the multi-billion dollar aircraft acquisition deal, Parrikar told reporters at the Aero India 2015, here on Wednesday.
When asked about the three-year delay in modernisation of Indian Air Force and Rafale being an important part of it, he pointed out that the NDA government had come to power only ten months ago. “I have asked the CNC to speed up the process of completion of the report. The report is inevitable for the government to make a final decision on the deal,” he said.
"We are determined to strengthen our defence forces. But we will also focus on maximising the use of the current availability of war planes. This is also important," he added. He further said there was no delay in the finalisation of the deal.
The multi-role medium range combat aircraft (MMRCA) deal is valued at around $20 billion for supply of 126 fighter aircraft.
The defence minister also added the government is in the process of tweaking the defence procurement policy to enable small and medium sector enterprises get a better deal in the offset clauses. "We are aware of the problems faced by MSME sector. We also know that they can contribute handsomely to defence production and Make in India a bigger success," Parrikar said.
