A qualified success

Absence of mega-defence deals dims the optics

With a banquet at Louvre, a Legion d’honneur award, and the Punjab Regiment marching down the Champs Elysees to the strains of Sare Jahan Se Achchha on Bastille Day, the optics of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two-day visit to France last week were superb. In terms of hard gains, however, the brilliance of the occasion was dimmed by the absence of a widely anticipated announcement on 26 Rafale Navy jets and three Scorpene submarines. Both proposals, together worth a mammoth Rs 80,000 crore, had been cleared by the Defence Acquisition Council, headed by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, a day ahead of Mr Modi’s visit. The timing of the DAC’s approval raised expectations of a mega announcement. Indeed, Mr Modi had underlined the point by stating that defence ties were the basic pillar of bilateral relations between India and France.

Yet the Rafale deal did not find mention in the joint communiqué, issued after the Paris summit between Mr Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron. Reference to the construction of three more Scorpene submarines was dropped from a later version of the bilateral statement termed “Horizon 2047”. The foreign secretary did not answer queries on the Rafale deal and an official government source said an earlier negotiating text of the Scorpene deal was inadvertently uploaded for a short while. Meanwhile, French manufacturer Dassault Aviation issued a press release after the joint communiqué confirming that the Indian government had “announced the selection of the Navy Rafale to equip the Indian Navy with the latest generation fighter” after an “international competition”. Though these two signature deals were missing from the communiqué that sought to delineate Indo-French ties for the next 25 years, the section on defence cooperation reiterated the joint development of a combat aircraft engine and helicopter engine between French company Safran and Defence Research and Development Organisation, and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, respectively, among a range of other collaboration agreements. All told, despite Indian grumbles about high prices, France’s willingness to sell to India has made the country a leading supplier of weaponry in recent years.

If the defence cooperation metric fell short, the tonality of the communiqué underlined both countries’ commitments to following independent foreign policies. Undergirding this mutual position is India’s lasting appreciation of France’s decision not to join the Western world in isolating India for conducting nuclear tests in 1998. In April this year, the French President signalled his country’s discomfort with the United States’ China containment policy with a state visit to Beijing, which concluded with a mega deal for Airbus helicopters. Likewise, France did not comment on India’s stance on the Ukraine war. Instead, the two countries sought to focus on the twin aims of peace and financial security as an outcome. At the same time, the release of an Indo-Pacific Roadmap accentuated the orientation of bilateral relations in the region, building on a “Joint Strategic Vision” that the two countries signed in 2018. Under the road map, the countries agreed to increase naval visits and develop industrial capabilities, and jointly support the needs of various nations. This would include French overseas territories of Reunion (in the Indian Ocean), New Caledonia, and French Polynesia (both in the South Pacific). All told, compared to the notable achievements of Mr Modi’s US visit, the visit to France was, at best, a qualified success.